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Catching infections in old age could increase your risk of heart attack, stroke and even dementia, Sir Chris Whitty has warned.

England’s Chief Medical Officer has released a landmark report calling for the NHS to take infections in the elderly more seriously. He says evidence suggests they are at higher risk of heart attack, stroke and possibly even developing dementia after a serious infection.

Professor Whitty told a media briefing that while antibiotics should be rationed in the younger population - to prevent bugs developing resistance to them - they should be considered earlier for the elderly. He said as well as causing thousands of deaths in winter, the knock on impacts of a significant infection can be devastating with some patients left frail and housebound.

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Prof Whitty said: “Infections have multiple effects in old life, something which I think is often not appreciated even in the medical profession, as it should be, is the effects of infections on increasing, other common diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases.

“There is very clear evidence now that having an infection increases your risk of stroke, particularly in the first two weeks afterwards. But it can extend up to as long as a year after severe infections.

“These are quite significantly increased chances of a stroke. And this is true for bacteremia (bacteria in the bloodstream), urinary tract infections (UTIs), pneumonia, influenza… a whole range of infections. If we could reduce these infections we would reduce strokes and heart attacks.

“The great majority of deaths from infections are now in older adults. We need to be much more systematic about preventing infections in older adults as we have done in children and young adults.”

Professor Whitty also said the evidence showed that elderly people who caught a serious infection were more likely to go on to develop dementia. He said it was not clear yet whether infections actually contributed to dementia developing or “accelerated” its progression.

Professor Whitty told reporters that elderly people were currently being “underserved” by the NHS which needed to take infections in this age group more seriously. He also called on older people to take up all NHS vaccine invites and to practice good hand hygiene.

Sir Chris added: “So for all these reasons my view is that we shouldn't be taking infections and in old people much more seriously.

“We need to make sure that when someone has some early infection in older age, that we take it seriously. You must have a lower threshold for treating with antibiotics [than] in younger people.”

The Chief Medical Officer’s reports have been released annually for over 150 years, providing an independent assessment of the state of the public’s health in England. In its foreword, Professor Whitty wrote: “Infectious diseases are the oldest enemy of human health.

"The extraordinary improvements in life expectancy over the last 150 years have been built on the ability of medicine, science and public health to prevent and treat infections.

“The tools of medical science have repeatedly proved very effective against varied bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi which cause severe disease but alone they cannot defeat infections.

“Only if they are delivered to the right people at the right time can they prevent and treat major diseases. This requires actions by doctors and other clinical staff, health services, families, society and governments.

“One of the greatest threats to effective actions that reduce the predictable, serious and evolving risk multiple infections cause is complacency.”