Italy's Berlusconi diagnosed with leukemia: Media

By Giada Zampano

ROME (AA) - Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been diagnosed with leukemia, Italian media reported on Thursday.

A spokesman from Berlusconi's party Forza Italia did not deny the reports.

Berlusconi, 86, was hospitalized in intensive care at Milan's San Raffaele hospital on Wednesday with respiratory problems, but doctors did not release any official information on his health.

Italian daily Il Corriere della Sera reported that the media mogul and three-time premier, who had been discharged from the same hospital only last week, has leukemia.

Italy's main news agency Ansa said he is being treated for “a serious blood disorder.”

Forza Italia said Berlusconi telephoned party officials on Thursday morning, including Italian Foreign Minister and party coordinator Antonio Tajani.

Berlusconi is assisted at the hospital by his personal doctor Alberto Zangrillo. Many of his relatives visited him since he was hospitalized.

“He’s a rock, he is going to make it this time as well,” his brother Paolo said as he left the hospital on Wednesday night.

Berlusconi had several health problems in the past years, including a heart attack that his doctor said could have killed him in 2016, and emergency bowel surgery in 2019.

In 2020 he suffered some complications linked to COVID-19, which he said was “the worst experience” in his entire life.

Berlusconi – who has dominated Italy’s political scene for about three decades, made his latest comeback with national elections last September, when he confirmed once again his pivotal role within the rightist bloc led by far-right leader Giorgia Meloni.​​​​​​​

He also secured his return to parliament, winning a seat in the Senate nearly a decade after being banned from holding public office.