FEINSTEIN IN HOSPITAL FOR SHINGLES TREATMENT

Sen. Dianne Feinstein — the oldest member of Congress — disclosed Thursday that she has been hospitalized in San Francisco and is being treated for a case of shingles.

The six-term senator, who turns 90 in June, said in a three-sentence statement released by her office that she was diagnosed last month and expects to make a full recovery.

“I hope to return to the Senate later this month,” she said.

According to the Mayo Clinic website, shingles is a viral infection that causes a painful rash, which can occur anywhere on the body. It isn’t life-threatening.

The senior senator from California recently announced she would not seek re-election to the seat she has held for decades. For the past few years, she has faced questions about and media coverage of a perceived decline in mental acuity.

She has frequently waved off those criticisms, saying last year, “The real question is whether I’m still an effective representative for 40 million Californians, and the record shows that I am.”

Feinstein declined to be considered this year for the Senate pro tempore position, a title that would have put her third in line to the presidency and traditionally goes to the longest-serving senator in the majority party.

Feinstein has been active in California politics for more than 50 years; she was first elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969. She became the city’s mayor after the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978. She was first elected to the Senate in 1992 and is the longest-serving female senator.

Democrats, who hold a narrow 51-49 majority, have been dealing with the absence of Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who checked himself into a hospital last month to be treated for clinical depression. The absences have prompted Vice President Kamala Harris to break three tied votes this week.