Sharon out of intensive Care unit

JERUSALEM, Nov 6: Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, comatose after a stroke suffered in January, has been moved out of an intensive care unit after treatment for a heart infection, the hospital treating him said today.

''His heart function has improved after being treated for an infection and his overall condition has stabilised,'' Sheba Medical Centre, a facility near Tel Aviv, said in a statement.

Sharon, 78, was taken from the hospital's respiratory rehabilitation ward to its intensive care unit on Friday after developing the infection.

He has been comatose since suffering a brain haemorrhage on January 4. Comatose victims of strokes are often prone to infections and those in the heart are particularly severe.

Elected prime minister in 2001, Sharon was replaced by Ehud Olmert after his stroke and ahead of a national election won by the centrist Kadima party, which the former general founded and Olmert now leads.

Reuters