Ian Thorpe is still battling a crippling shoulder infection that could leave him paralysed in parts of his arm, but the Olympic swimmer remains positive, says his father.

“He’s doing really well,” Ken Thorpe told the Herald Sun.

Thorpe’s condition hasn’t changed, his manager, James Erskine, said this morning.

“He’s still battling an infection and that’s the latest,” Erskine said.

It has been a difficult year for the sporting star, who entered rehab earlier this year for depression and is still struggling with his mental health while in hospital.

“He’s only got about 10 days to go in the rehab, and its been very good for him…but this shoulder infection has obviously set him back a bit,” his father said.

Doctors are seeking to stabilise the infection, which he contracted after undergoing recent surgery in a Swiss hospital for his injured shoulder.

“There’s two types of infection…and the difficulty is that the infection is under the plates inserted in his shoulder,” Thorpe’s father said.

–with AAP