Feinstein’s office details previously unknown complications from shingles illness

By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office says she is suffering from Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a complication from the shingles virus that can paralyze part of the face. Feinstein’s office on Thursday said she contracted encephalitis while recovering from the singles virus earlier this year. Feinstein, who is 89, had not previously disclosed those medical details, though she said in a statement last week that she had suffered complications from the virus. The longtime California senator returned from a more than two-month absence on May 10 after weeks of questions about her declining health and whether she would be back in the Senate at all.