Bill Clinton was admitted two days ago to a hospital in Los Angeles for treatment of a “non-Covid infection”, a spokesman said.

“On Tuesday evening former President Bill Clinton was admitted to University of California, Irvine, medical center for treatment of a non-Covid infection,” said Angel Urena, a Clinton spokesman, on Twitter.

“He is on the mend, in good spirits, and incredibly thankful to the doctors, nurses and staff providing him with excellent care,” Urena said.

CNN reported that Clinton, 75, was in the intensive care unit, primarily to give him privacy, and he was not on a breathing machine, according to doctors treating the former president at UCMI.

His condition is not related to his previous heart problems or Covid-19, CNN said.

A second statement from Clinton’s spokesman quoted physicians Dr Alpesh Amin and Dr. Lisa Bardack, who said the former president has been “administered IV antibiotics and fluids”.

“After two days of treatment, his white blood cell count is trending down and he is responding to antibiotics well,” the doctors said. “The California-based medical team has been in constant communication with the president’s New York-based medical team, including his cardiologist. We hope to have him go home soon.”

In the years since Clinton left the White House in 2001, the former president has faced health scares. In 2004, he underwent quadruple bypass surgery after experiencing prolonged chest pains and shortness of breath. He returned to the hospital for surgery for a partially collapsed lung in 2005, and in 2010 had a pair of stents implanted in a coronary artery.

He responded by embracing a largely vegan diet that saw him lose weight and report improved health.

He repeatedly returned to the stump, campaigning for Democratic candidates, mostly notably his wife, Hillary, during her failed 2008 bid for the presidential nomination.

And in 2016, as Hillary Clinton sought the White House as the Democratic nominee, Bill Clinton — by then a grandfather and nearing 70 — returned to the campaign trail.

A spokesman for the Clinton Foundation said the former president was in the Los Angeles area for private events related to his charitable organisation. The UCI Medical Center is in Orange County, about 40 miles (64 km) south-east of Los Angeles.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report.