NBA's Mutombo Has Malaria

A T L A N T A, Oct. 18 -- Atlanta Hawks center Dikembe Mutombo has a mild case of malaria, and is expected miss about two weeks.

“It’s not life threatening, it’s not career threatening,”Hawks general manager Pete Babcock said today. “It soundsterrible, but it’s really like a bad case of the flu.”

Mutombo was hospitalized with a fever Monday in Springfield,Mass., where the Hawks played in the NBA Hall of Fameexhibition game against the Boston Celtics. Babcock said the teamlearned Mutombo had the disease at halftime of Monday’s game.

“He was feeling better Sunday, and when we visited the Hall ofFame as a team, he went with us,” Babcock said. “He startedfeeling worse and complained about having a high fever, and ourtrainer suggested he go to the hospital and get it checked out.”

Return Questionable

The Hawks don’t know when Mutombo will be able to return.Atlanta opens the season Oct. 31 against the Charlotte Hornets.

“According to the doctors, the medicine that he has been givenwill knock out the malaria completely,” Babcock said. “Thedoctors can’t give a time frame of when he’ll be back any more thanthey could if he had the flu.

“He’ll come back whenever he’s healthy and his body recovers.”

The 7-foot-tall center was on his way back to Atlanta onTuesday and not available for comment. Babcock said Mutombo wouldrest at home.

Doctors believe Mutombo contracted the disease when he wasbitten by a mosquito during a September trip to the Congo, Babcocksaid. Malaria, which is not contagious, is usually characterized bychills, fever and sweating.

Mutombo, entering his 10th year in the NBA, averaged 11.5 pointsand a league-leading 14.1 rebounds last season. He played atGeorgetown with the Miami Heat’s Alonzo Mourning, who announcedMonday he will miss the upcoming season with a kidney disease.