Rudi Giuliani, the Republican candidate for presidency, was checked in a St. Louis hospital during his campaign in Missouri due to symptoms that resembled to those of the flu, the Associated Press reported.

After the symptoms got worse, Giuliani took the decision to go to the hospital and spend the night there, campaign spokeswoman Katie Levinson said.

New York’s former mayor experienced a worsening of the symptoms as his plane took off from an airport in Chesterfield, Missouri. The plane that was heading to New York turned back at Giuliani's call.

"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,'' Levinson said to reporters.

"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," she added.

Wall Street Journal/NBC News’s latest survey released on Wednesday shows that Giuliani has fallen 13 points to 22 percent since November and is tied with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney nationally in the race for the Republican nomination.
According to the poll results, Mike Huckabee received the support of 17 percent of Republicans and John McCain by 14 percent.

Giuliani was the foremost leader in all previous NBC/Journal polls. Last month he led the field with support of 33 percent of those questioned. The state-by-state process for choosing candidates for the November 2008 election starts on January 3 in Iowa.

No further news regarding Mr. Giuliani's health was released. The ex-mayor, who successfully battled prostate cancer after being diagnosed six years ago, is at present in a St. Louis hospital to undergo routine tests.