French President Nicolas Sarkozy was briefly hospitalized in secret in October for treatment of an infection and abscess in his throat, the authors of a new book said Wednesday.

The revelation was potentially embarrassing for a leader who promised, in the run-up to his May election, to be open about his health and to make public the results of regular checkups.

Sarkozy’s office did not immediately return several calls seeking comment. Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner suggested he was aware Sarkozy had been ill but that it wasn’t serious: “I can assure you there wasn’t a big coverup.”

Denis Demonpion and Laurent Leger, the authors of a book about Sarkozy’s ex-wife, say Sarkozy was briefly admitted to Val de Grace hospital for treatment of a throat infection and abscess on Oct. 21. Doctors gave him antibiotics intravenously, they said.

Demonpion told France-Info radio that “doctors at the Elysee Palace could not treat” his ailment, and “he was hospitalized at Val de Grace in the greatest secrecy.”

The authors said the hospitalization came three days after the presidential Elysee Palace announced his divorce from his second wife, Cecilia.

They said they came across details of the president’s health while researching their book, “Cecilia: La face cachee de l’ex-premiere dame” (”Cecilia: The Hidden Side of the ex-First Lady”).

The question of leaders’ health is a sensitive one in France. Former President Francois Mitterrand, who led France from 1981-1995 and died of prostate cancer just months after leaving office, ordered his doctor to systematically falsify his health bulletins for 11 years.

The French public was informed of former President Georges Pompidou’s bone marrow cancer only after he died of it, while in office, on April 2, 1974.