UPDATE - Italy's Berlusconi has chronic form of leukemia

UPDATES WITH VERSION FROM HOSPITAL, CHANGES IN HEADLINE AND BODY

By Giada Zampano

ROME (AA) - Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been suffering "for some time" from a chronic form of leukemia, doctors at Milan's hospital San Raffaele said Thursday in a statement.

Berlusconi, 86, was hospitalized in intensive care at the hospital on Wednesday with respiratory problems.

Doctors issued a first medical bulletin on Thursday afternoon, saying that the media mogul and three-time premier was being treated for a pulmonary infection linked to his chronic pathology.

"The current therapy is aimed at treating the pulmonary infection, at reducing the negative effects of the pathology and at reestablishing the previous health conditions," the bulletin said.

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 have 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.