REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was admitted to a New York hospital on Sunday with a blood clot linked to a concussion she suffered earlier this month.
In the four years since she became Obama's surprise choice as the top US diplomat, Clinton has broken travel records as she dealt with immediate crises, including Libya and Syria, and sought to manage longer-term challenges, including US relations with China and Russia.
She has maintained a punishing travel schedule, and was diagnosed with the virus after a December trip that took her to the Czech Republic, NATO headquarters in Brussels, Dublin and Belfast - where she had her last public appearance on Dec. 7.
Officials announced on Dec. 9 that she was ill with the stomach virus, forcing her to cancel a trip to North Africa and the Gulf that was to include a stop in Morocco for a meeting on the Syria crisis.
Clinton has repeatedly said that she only intended to serve one term, and aides said she was on track to leave office within the next few weeks, once a successor is confirmed by the Senate.
Her last months in office have been overshadowed by the Benghazi attack, the first to kill a US ambassador in the line of duty since 1979, which brought sharp criticism of the State Department. An independent inquiry this month found widespread failures in both security planning and internal management in the department.
It did not find Clinton personally responsible for any security failures, although she publicly took overall responsibility for Benghazi and the safety and security of US diplomats overseas. The State Department's top security officer resigned from his post under pressure and three other mid-level employees were relieved of their duties after the inquiry released its report.
The controversy also cost US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice her chance to succeed Clinton as secretary of state. Rice drew heavy Republican criticism for comments on several television talk shows in which she said the attack appeared to be the result of a spontaneous demonstration rather than a planned assault.
Rice ultimately withdrew her name for consideration for the top diplomatic job. Obama on Dec. 21 nominated Senator John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to fill the position of secretary of state.
Blood thinners
Head injuries such as the one Clinton sustained earlier this month are associated more with bleeding than with clotting. Dr. Edward Ellerbeck, a professor at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, said clots are more common in people who are sedentary, genetically predisposed, or on certain types of medicines such as the contraceptive pill or Estrogen replacements.
Ellerbeck, who is not treating Clinton, said clots are usually treated with blood thinners, typically for three to six months, and generally carry a low risk of further complications. Clinton is not known to have any of the risk factors that increase the risk of abnormal clotting, such as atherosclerosis or autoimmune disorders.
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