Clinton 'Active' During Blood Clot Recovery

The US State Department has said Hillary Clinton is speaking with staff and reviewing paperwork while she continues to recover from a blood clot in her head.

Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the Secretary of State has been "quite active" on the phone with aides. She added that doctors will continue to monitor her progress.

Mrs Clinton was seen leaving the New York hospital with her husband, former president Bill Clinton, her daughter, Chelsea, and an aide on Wednesday.

Officials said Mrs Clinton was having tests done at another location on the sprawling medical campus, and that she was back in the hospital about an hour later.

Mrs Clinton was admitted on Sunday and is being treated with blood thinners to dissolve a clot in the vein behind the right ear.

Doctors found the clot during a follow-up exam stemming from a concussion she suffered in early December.

Mrs Clinton's doctors have said there is no neurological damage and they expect she will make a full recovery.

She has been off work since her return from her last foreign trip on December 7, although her staff have said she was working from home.

Earlier this month, the State Department said Mrs Clinton had contracted a bad stomach virus during her five-day stay in Europe. She had to cancel a planned trip to North Africa and Abu Dhabi due to the illness.

A week later, Mrs Clinton's doctors said she had become severely dehydrated due to the effects of the stomach bug and had fainted, suffering a concussion.

They recommended she rest at home and avoid the high-intensity travel she had been accustomed to taking as secretary of state.

Mrs Clinton has flown almost a million miles since taking office four years ago, visited 112 countries and spent some 400 days in a plane.

Her health kept her from giving evidence on December 20 about the attack on the US diplomatic post in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on September 11.

The assault, in which the US ambassador and three other American officials were killed, sparked a political firestorm in the United States - and Republicans criticised Mrs Clinton's absence from the hearings, calling on her to testify in January.

Mrs Clinton, who is due to step down from her post in early 2013, also stayed away from the White House last week when President Barack Obama nominated her replacement, veteran Senator John Kerry.