The World - News from Aug. 15, 1988

Nelson Mandela, the imprisoned South African black leader who was admitted to a hospital Friday with a lung ailment, has shown noticeable improvement, a doctor said. J. G. L. Strauss, medical superintendent at Cape Town’s Tygerberg Hospital, said the 70-year-old Mandela “is responding to treatment. He is without pain or discomfort.” Tests performed on tissue from Mandela’s lungs showed no evidence of cancer, “only a chronic inflammatory condition (of the lining),” Strauss said, adding that doctors drained fluid from Mandela’s lungs Saturday morning. Mandela was transferred to the hospital from Pollsmoor Prison, where he is serving a life sentence for plotting to overthrow the government.