Former US President Bill Clinton, who served from 1993 to 2001, was admitted to a California hospital last Tuesday with a suspected blood infection. The information was released Thursday evening.
A resident of New York City, the 75-year-old former president was admitted to University of California Irvine Medical Center for “close monitoring” and was treated with IV antibiotics and fluids, according to a joint statement from Dr. Alpesh Amin and Dr. Lisa Bardack quoted by the New York Post.
After two days of treatment, Clinton’s “white blood cell count is trending down and he is responding well to antibiotics,” the doctors said, adding that he “remains at the hospital for continuous monitoring.”
The former president’s spokesperson, Angel Urena, said in a separate statement that Clinton’s admission was not related to COVID-19.
Urena said Thursday that Clinton was “on the mend” and “in good spirits.”
Clinton has had several health scares since leaving the White House, including a quadruple bypass operation in 2004, a partially collapsed lunch in 2005 and implantation of stents in a coronary artery in 2010. Prior to 2004 he was taking medication for high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Since 2010, Clinton has maintained a primarily vegan diet, lost weight and has improved his health.
Clinton helped broker the historic peace treaty between Israel and Jordan, signed on October 26, 1993. He was unable to convince Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) chief Yasser Arafat to sign a peace agreement with Israel under then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak at the failed 2000 Camp David Summit.