Bob Dylan was being treated for a potentially fatal chest infection that forced him to cancel an upcoming European tour.
"His condition has been diagnosed as histoplasmosis, a potentially fatal infection which creates a swelling of the sac which surrounds the heart," Columbia Records said in a three-paragraph statement Wednesday.Dylan, who turned 56 on Saturday, was admitted to an undisclosed hospital over the weekend with severe chest pains, the statement said.
The record company did not disclose his current condition.
Dr. Jeffrey Gold, chairman of the cardiothoracic surgery department at Montefiore-Einstein Medical Center in the Bronx, said histoplasmosis carries "pneumonialike symptoms" and people can be infected for "20 or 30 years before it causes trouble."
"Sometimes it just heals itself," other times antibiotics are required, and in advanced stages, surgery or draining the pericardium - the sac around the heart - is necessary, Gold said.
Dylan was "undergoing treatment and will remain hospitalized in the care of his physicians until such time as they feel confident that his condition has improved," Columbia Records said.