Former Italy PM Berlusconi in intensive care with leukaemia, lung infection

Rome [Italy], April 6 : Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian Prime Minister and leader of the Forza Italia party, has been diagnosed with leukaemia. This was confirmed on Thursday, reported CNN.

In a statement, the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan said that the 86-year-old politician's cancer is not serious and that he had carried the disease "for some time."

After experiencing some breathing problems, Berlusconi was hospitalised on Wednesday, following a previous spell in hospital last week.

The hospital said in a statement, "PM Silvio Berlusconi is currently hospitalised in intensive care for the treatment of a lung infection," adding that the doctors had also reached the leukaemia diagnosis.

The statement added that there is a "therapeutic strategy in place" for Berlusconi's treatment.

The media tycoon and former PM has served three terms as Italy's prime minister, most recently between 2008 and 2011, before being banned from politics for six years after a conviction for tax fraud.

Berlusconi returned to frontline politics in 2022 when he won a seat in Italy's Senate, representing the northern municipality of Monza.

Berlusconi returned to active politics in 2022, when he was elected to represent the northern municipality of Monza in the Italian Senate.

His spokeswoman told CNN last week that he was hospitalised separately for "routine checks" at the time.

In 2021 he was hospitalized for treatment for the symptoms of long Covid-19, according to the press office of his Forza Italia party. He also spent time in the hospital the previous year after contracting the coronavirus, and has had a number of other health concerns, including a 2016 heart surgery to replace an aortic valve, CNN reported.

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