Mandela responding positively to hospital treatment

JOHANNESBURG Anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela is responding positively to treatment for a recurring lung infection, said the office of South Africa's President.

Mandela, who is 94 years old, was hospitalized yesterday. The former president and human rights icon has become increasingly frail in recent years.

Debora Patta told "CBS This Morning" that Mandela spent a second night in a Pretoria hospital, and has been given oxygen from time to time to assist with his breathing. It is his third trip to a hospital since December.

Importantly he is eating, he is conscious, he is talking, and he is not hooked up to machines.

The office of President Jacob Zuma said in a statement that Mandela enjoyed a full breakfast on Friday morning. Zuma's office said Mandela's doctors provided the update on his condition, and that he remains under treatment and observation.

Zuma has wished him a speedy recovery, words echoed by President Obama, who described Mandela as "an inspiration and a hero." The social media site Twitter also fluttered with well-wishes.

Family and grandchildren will visit him today. They tell CBS he seems to be fine.

Patta said that doctors do not want to keep Mandela unnecessarily in the hospital, not with winter approaching and people fighting flu bugs.

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During his 27-year imprisonment in South Africa's era of apartheid, Mandela contracted tuberculosis. He worked in the lime quarries, and this respiratory infection has its roots there. It has grown increasingly problematic as the former president becomes frailer.

The time between Mandela's hospitalizations has grown increasingly shorter -- just 17 days since the last one. In that instance, he was also suffering from a respiratory infection.