Giuliani taken to hospital with flu signs

Republican Presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani arrives for the Republican Party Debate in Johnston, Iowa, December 12, 2007. Giuliani interrupted his campaign and checked into a Missouri hospital with flu-like symptoms, according to media reports on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani spent the night in a Missouri hospital after suffering flu-like symptoms, but was to be released on Thursday, his campaign said.

The former New York mayor turned back his campaign flight from Missouri to New York because of illness, the campaign said, after his flu-like symptoms worsened as he campaigned in Missouri on Wednesday.

"To be on the safe side, the mayor consulted with his personal physician in New York and made the decision to go to the Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis for routine tests," Katie Levinson, his campaign communications director, said in a statement.

"After precautionary tests, the doctors found nothing of concern at this time and Rudy will be going back to New York later today. He is in high spirits and is grateful to the doctors and nurses who checked him out," Levinson said.

Giuliani has seen his status as the front-runner for the Republican nomination erode. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Wednesday said he has fallen 13 points since November and is tied with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney nationally in the race for the Republican nomination.

Giuliani had been the clear leader in all previous NBC/Journal polls and led the field with 33 percent support in the survey last month.

The state-by-state process for choosing candidates for the November 2008 election starts on January 3 in Iowa.

(Reporting by John Whitesides)