Bush to Resume Summit After Collapse With Flu Halts Work : Japan: He rearranges his morning schedule to recover from stomach illness. The incident raises new concerns about his health as the election campaign begins.

TOKYO — President Bush canceled his appearances this morning during trade talks here after collapsing Wednesday night at an official dinner with what the White House said was a bout with stomach flu.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the President was still weak but feeling better and would resume his busy schedule later today. “The doctors are certain that there is no other illness or problems related to this,” he said. “The President is human. He gets sick.”

Bush’s illness raised new concerns about the President’s health as his rigorous reelection campaign begins.

The chilling spectacle at the head table of a banquet at the prime minister’s residence here was captured on television cameras as Bush vomited and slumped limply to the floor, mouth agape. Fitzwater said the President had fainted.

Bush, somewhat sheepish-looking, rose to his feet five minutes later but appeared pale and disheveled as he was rushed back to his temporary residence at the Akasaka Palace under the care of his physician.

The incident created a temporary panic at the elegant dinner, where witnesses said Bush’s eyelids seemed to flutter as he was stricken. Secret Service agent George Robinson clambered across a table to him and Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa briefly cradled the President’s head in his hands. First Lady Barbara Bush at one point left her seat to look on from her husband’s side, and agents took protective positions around the room to keep other guests away.

But as Bush eventually rose to face the audience, his jacket removed and tie loosened, Miyazawa led vigorous applause and the President was said to have remarked to his agents: “I just wanted to get a little attention.”

Bush’s collapse occurred 10 days into a grueling four-nation trip in which the President has traveled almost 20,000 miles across 16 time zones, has appeared to be chronically weary and acknowledged Wednesday that he has had trouble sleeping.

Wednesday’s episode came eight months after an incident in which Bush was flown to Bethesda Naval Hospital after suffering from an irregular heartbeat while jogging at Camp David. That malady has since been treated as part of a cure for Graves’ disease, and Bush was given a clean bill of health by his doctors early last fall. But the public display of a new problem, even if temporary, sent waves of unease through Republican political circles.

Asked about his campaign plans, Bush said last summer that only a health problem would prevent him from seeking reelection, and added: “I don’t have one right now.”

Fitzwater said there was “no connection whatsoever” between the incident and his earlier heart problem. He added today that the incident will have “absolutely no effect” on Bush’s reelection plans.

But the vivid image of a stricken, distressed President raised new questions about the vitality of the 67-year-old Bush and focused renewed attention on Vice President Dan Quayle, his designated running mate. Polls still show that the vice president suffers from a lack of public favor, and Bush’s illness is bound to reopen to public debate the question of whether Quayle is adequately qualified to be president.

To reassure an anxious world, Fitzwater appeared on live television within an hour after Bush’s collapse to announce that the President was “feeling fine.” He said Bush was under the care of his personal physician, Burton Lee, and another White House doctor, Allen Roberts, who monitored his condition through the night.

This morning, as Bush remained secluded in the palace that serves as his residence here, Fitzwater said that the President’s vital signs had remained normal Wednesday night and today.

The White House quickly relayed word of Bush’s collapse to Quayle and other senior officials in Washington, where it was still before dawn. But Fitzwater insisted that the notification was only for informational reasons. “There was no need for any special alarm,” he said.

Bush called Quayle, Chief of Staff Samuel K. Skinner and members of his family after rising at 6:30 a.m. to assure them that he was well. Commerce Secretary Robert A. Mosbacher and Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady took the President’s place at morning events.

(In Nashua, N.H., Quayle said, “I’m ready” to assume the office of President, if necessary. He told Republicans at a country club that he had spoken with Bush. “I said, ‘What happened?’ ” the vice president said. “He said, ‘I got the flu.’ He said, ‘How are the people of New Hampshire?’ I said, ‘The people of New Hampshire are just fine.’ ”)

Members of Bush’s delegation, including a number of reporters, have suffered flu symptoms on the journey. In Tokyo, a virulent strain of stomach flu was reported in the Japanese media to be widespread. But the President’s stunning, swift collapse raised questions as to whether he might have been weakened by a breakneck schedule.

Bush has worked well into the night nearly every day since he left Washington on Dec. 30. His schedule from Australia to Japan has been crowded with speeches, meetings and other events. Nevertheless, he spent part of Wednesday afternoon playing what aides said were a “vigorous” two sets of tennis with U.S. Ambassador Michael H. Armacost as his partner against Emperor Akihito and his son, Crown Prince Naruhito.

In an interview with an NBC correspondent after his tennis match, he said he felt “pretty good right now,” but that it had been “a long trip” and that he often woke up in the middle of the night.

Before the state dinner, however, Bush was said to have told his physician, Lee, that he felt ill. Fitzwater said Lee examined the President and determined that he had “a touch of the flu,” but that Bush wanted to attend the dinner anyway.

A Japanese television network, permitted to film the dinner, reported that Bush had left the receiving line at one point, and drank only water with his meal.

But there was apparently no indication that Bush was so ill until he collapsed in his chair and began to slump toward the floor about 8:20 p.m., as a meat course was being served. A Secret Service agent helped Bush to the floor while physicians, nurses and other aides rushed to the President’s side. Members of the audience were urged to remain seated.

The First Lady left her seat and moved toward her husband, then stopped and watched grimly from a few feet away. She handed Miyazawa one napkin, gripping another tightly in her hand. She was joined for a time by Mosbacher.

The Japanese cameras showed that Bush remained on the floor for five minutes. As he rose, his shirt collar open, agents helped him to don a green overcoat. Bush, looking pale, shook his head apologetically and raised his hand in a salute to the audience. He shook Miyazawa’s hand, and a White House nurse reached from behind him to tidy his mussed hair.

An ambulance that travels with the White House motorcade was rushed to a front entrance and an empty gurney rolled into the residence. Japanese security men pushed and pulled photographers seeking a perch to film the event as the red lights of the ambulance flashed, providing a frightening and chaotic scene broadcast live on Tokyo television.

The gurney was rolled back out of the residence at 8:29 p.m., unoccupied. Bush emerged two minutes later, walking steadily but slowly under his own power. He chose to ride not in the ambulance but in the presidential limousine. He looked haggard but told reporters: “I feel good.” He sped off in his motorcade and arrived at the palace about 8:40 p.m.

Fitzwater said Bush was given a dose of Tigan, an anti-nausea drug, by his doctors. He slept well through the night, Fitzwater said early today.

In complaining earlier in the day that he had had trouble sleeping, Bush said he had been waking up at 3 a.m. He told a reporter that he had reluctantly taken half a tablet of Halcion, a mild sleeping aid, Tuesday evening.

But Fitzwater--who declined today to discuss any medical tests that the President had undergone, such as an electrocardiogram--rejected the suggestion that either the sleeping medication or the tennis game might have had something to do with Bush’s collapse. Citing Dr. Lee’s opinion, he said, “There’s no reason to believe there was any factor contributing to this other than just the flu itself.”

To help fight off jet lag on the long trip, Bush had been exercising nearly every day, working out on an exercise bike in his hotel room in Australia and and on a stair-climbing exercise machine in Singapore.

Asked whether the White House might now seek to present Bush with a less-crowded schedule, Fitzwater said he did not expect any change.

“The President’s schedule is one that he has carried out in similar fashion for more than three years, one that he enjoys,” the chief spokesman said. “He has a very rigorous schedule. He is a very physical and able man.”