Berlusconi in hospital with leukaemia, condition stable

Three-times former prime minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi was hospitalised in intensive care on Wednesday and despite swirling rumous, his health condition is now stable and has improved since Wednesday, sources told ANSA.

Berlusconi, 86, is undergoing treatment at San Raffaele Hospital in Milan to fight a form of chronic leukaemia and a lung infection.

“Although the situation imposes the utmost caution, the former premier is reportedly reacting positively to the antibiotic therapy decided to treat pneumonia that has arisen in recent days”, the same sources report after several rumours pointed to Berlusconi possibly facing the worst-case scenario.

“The form of chronic leukaemia from which he has been suffering for some time, moreover, would not be rare for subjects of his age and is normally treated with minimally invasive therapies, allowing an almost normal quality of life,” the sources added.

Berlusconi’s illness had been concealed until now, although it appeared that he had not been in the best of health for some time. While always attributed to his age, he has shown difficulty walking briskly on several occasions.

The founder of Forza Italia (EPP) made several phone calls on Thursday to reassure friends and political allies. His entire family and Mediaset chairman Fedele Confalonieri visited him in the hospital.

“There is concern however, we are optimistic”, Confalonieri said. “He is a lion”, said his son and CEO of the Mediaset media empire, Pier Silvio Berlusconi.

Forza Italia MPs waited with bated breath over Berlusconi’s health as no successor to the party currently governing with  Matteo Salvini’s Lega (ID) and Fratelli d’Italia (ECR) led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has yet been named.

(Federica Pascale | EURACTIV.it)

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