Former United States President George H.W. Bush remains in the hospital after weeks of treatment for bronchitis but will soon be able to leave, a spokesperson said Sunday. 

The 88-year-old was taken to a hospital in Houston the day after Thanksgiving after suffering a severe cough that lasted for several weeks. He was hospitalized for the sake of caution due to his age and condition, which doctors feared could have led to pneumonia.

Over the past few weeks, the former president has been in and out of the Methodist Hospital and only lately has his health began to show an improvement.

Now he remains in a stable condition at the hospital and his spokesperson George Kovacik said on Sunday he will be released soon if his condition continues to improve, according to the Daily Mail.

The Methodist Hospital released a statement on Thursday, Nov. 29, with an update by Dr. Amy Mynderse, an internal medicine physician in charge of Bush's care: "This was never a serious or life-threatening situation. We simply wanted to prevent the progression of the disease into pneumonia, which is possible in any patient at this age. He is definitely in great spirits. He is happy, joking and definitely getting better."

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention lists bronchitis, also known as a chest cold, as a common breathing condition where the bronchial tubes within the lungs are inflamed. Mucus creation causes the patient to cough and the condition can worsen and turn very serious with elderly persons who have weaker immune systems.

George Herbert Walker Bush was the 41st president of the United States who served from 1989-1993. He was also the head of the Central Intelligence Agency and served a total of two terms as vice president under Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1989.

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