Italy’s former premier Silvio Berlusconi diagnosed with leukaemia, doctors say

Doctors for Italian former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi say he is being treated for a lung infection that suggests he has a “chronic blood condition” that is a kind of leukaemia.

Mr Berlusconi’s personal physician, Alberto Zangrillo, signed off on a medical bulletin on Thursday that said Mr Berlusconi “has had for some time” leukaemia in a “persistent chronic phase”.

The media mogul, 86, who served three terms as Italy’s prime minister and now serves in the senate, was admitted to Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital on Wednesday for treatment for what aides indicated was a respiratory problem stemming from a previous infection.

Family members continued to visit Mr Berlusconi. Spotted arriving at the hospital were his brother, Paolo, his eldest daughter, Marina, and his younger son, Luigi.

The last years have seen Mr Berlusconi suffer numerous health problems, including heart ailments and Covid-19 in 2020, which saw him admitted to hospital in a critical condition with pneumonia.

He has had a pacemaker for years, underwent heart surgery to replace an aortic valve in 2016 and overcame prostate cancer decades ago.

On March 31, Mr Berlusconi tweeted when he left the hospital after a battery of tests that he was “ready and determined to commit myself as I’ve always done to the country I love”.

When he left the hospital the night before, Paolo Berlusconi said of his brother: “He’s a rock. Thus, he’ll make it this time, too.”

With no political heir apparent despite Mr Berlusconi’s multiple health setbacks, his Forza Italia party has seen its popularity at the polls slump to a fraction of what it enjoyed years ago, when voters helped to repeatedly propel him into the premiership despite his legal woes.