According to a new study at the University of Birmingham, grieving people have a high risk of getting sick or contracting infections.

Researchers say that emotional stress causes some parts of the immune system to come under pressure and this increases the risk of infections. The risk is particularly higher for the elderly people, according to the study.

Professor Janet Lord, who led the research said, "There are a lot of anecdotes about couples who were married for 40 years when one of them passes away and then the other dies a few days later."

He added, "It seems there is a biological basis for this. Rather than dying of a broken heart, however, they are dying of a broken immune system. They usually get infections."

Emotional stress and depression interfere with the person's immune system. They affect function of a type of white blood cell known as neutrophils that fights bacterial infections such as pneumonia, the researchers explained.

An earlier study in the US had found that the people grieving over the loss of a loved one have increased risk of a heart attack. The researchers said that the risk declined to six times higher than normal in the first week and gradually over the month.