Hillary Clinton seriously ill

Hilary Clinton

The normally indefatigable, globe-trotting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was Wednesday still laid low by a nasty stomach bug which has kept her out of the public eye since the weekend.

As the rumor mill kept up steam over whether she plans to run for president in 2016, the usually tireless Clinton remained out of sight after falling sick at the end of a tour of Europe.

“The secretary’s been really very ill. I mean, very. This stomach virus is a pretty vicious one,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

But she hastily clarified that the popular top US diplomat was not suffering from any life-threatening illness.

Clinton arrived back from a trip to Europe late Friday, but was forced to cancel a planned visit to Morocco this week for a key Friends of Syria meeting when she fell ill.

Since taking up her post almost four years ago, Clinton has kept up a relentless pace, visiting some 112 countries and on track to rack up a million miles on the job, making her the most traveled secretary of state ever.