George HW Bush taken to hospital with infection

FORMER US president George HW Bush has been admitted to a Houston hospital after contracting an infection, a family spokesman says.

The admission comes just days after the funeral of his wife of 73 years, first lady Barbara Bush, who died last week aged 92.

She died at home in Houston on April 17.

Family spokesman Jim McGrath said on Twitter that the 93-year-old Bush is “responding to treatments and appears to be recovering.”

He says he was admitted to Houston Methodist Hospital Sunday morning after an infection spread to his blood.

McGrath wouldn’t elaborate Monday night on the specifics of Bush’s condition, saying additional updates would be issued “as events warrant.” But he said the 41st president was eager to get well so he can get to his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

“He’s the most goal-oriented person on this planet,” McGrath said.

Bush’s son, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, indicated during his eulogy on Saturday that his father had been hospitalised recently at the same time Barbara Bush was in the hospital for the last time.

Those hospitalisations were not publicly disclosed at the time.

“I think Dad got sick on purpose so that he could be with her,” Jeb Bush said.

First lady Melania Trump, who attended the funeral, sent her best wishes to the former president Monday evening.

“Sending healing thoughts of strength, along with prayers, for President George HW Bush tonight,” Melania Trump tweeted.

Barbara Bush was laid to rest Saturday in a ceremony attended by her husband and former presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, George W Bush and their spouses, along with current first lady Melania Trump.

On Friday, during the public viewing of Barbara Bush’s casket, George offered his hand to many of the around 2,500 people who walked through the church to pay their respects.

Recent years have seen the former president’s health decline, including a diagnosis of vascular Parkinsonism that has left him wheelchair bound.

A year ago this month, Bush spent two weeks in the hospital for treatment of pneumonia and chronic bronchitis, a constant irritation of the lining of tubes that carry air to one’s lungs. Bush’s doctors said chronic bronchitis is a condition more prevalent with age and can aggravate the symptoms of pneumonia. Bush was hospitalised for 16 days in January 2017 for pneumonia. During that hospital stay, which included time in intensive care, doctors inserted a breathing tube and connected him to a ventilator.

He also was hospitalised in 2015 in Maine after falling at home and breaking a bone in his neck, and in December 2014 for about a week for shortness of breath. He spent Christmas 2012 in intensive care for a bronchitis-related cough and other issues.

People in their 90s with Parkinson’s disease are often at higher risk of pneumonia and other infections because their swallowing process can be compromised, said Dr. David Reuben, professor of geriatric medicine at the UCLA medical school in Los Angeles.

“And the stress of losing a loved one can weaken the immune system,” he said.

Bacterial infections are treated with antibiotics, he said, while viral infections require other treatments. Infections that spread to the blood usually are not viral, however, he said.

The prognosis for such a case would depend on a number of factors, including heart rate, blood pressure and oxygenation, Reuben said.

“The more of these parameters are abnormal, the more serious the case is,” he said.

Last year, he was one of many men in power who faced allegations of sexual harassment. Several women came forward to make claims against Bush, with accusations dating as far back to 1992.

A spokesman for Bush said he apologised for any offence caused and that any inappropriate touching was “unintentional”.