Silvio Berlusconi: Former Italian PM has leukaemia, say doctors

Veteran politician has been battling ill health for years

Italian news agency ANSA reported that Silvio Berlusconi had received chemotherapy. AP

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is in hospital being treated for a lung infection linked to chronic leukaemia, his doctors said on Thursday.

The 86-year-old's personal physician, Alberto Zangrillo, explained that Mr Berlusconi had had the condition "for some time", but was now in a "persistent chronic phase".

It was the first confirmation of the colourful politician's condition after several days of reports regarding his ill health in the Italian media.

He was admitted to Milan's San Raffaele Hospital on Wednesday. He had left the same hospital a week ago after several days of tests.

A medical bulletin released by the hospital said “the current treatment strategy envisions treatment of the pulmonary infection” as well as specialised treatment “aimed at limiting the negative effects” of the chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML)".

CMML, which affects mainly older adults, starts in blood-forming cells of the bone marrow and goes on to invade the blood.

Mr Berlusconi is a media mogul who served three terms as Italy's prime minster and now serves in the Senate. He is a larger-than-life figure who elicits either admiration or disdain from Italians and has been nicknamed "the immortal" for his longevity in politics. Despite a series of sex scandals and court cases which threatened to tarnish his image, including being convicted for tax evasion in 2012, many Italians still have a soft spot in their hearts for him.

His health seems to have improved in the past 24 hours, the chairman of his company said on Thursday after visiting him.

"We're more optimistic, today [he looks] much better than yesterday," Fedele Confalonieri, one of Mr Berlusconi's closest friends and the chairman of his MFE-MediaforEurope group, told reporters gathered outside.

Silvio Berlusconi's youngest son, Luigi, arrives at San Raffaele Hospital in Milan. EPA

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, referencing Mr Zangrillo, said Mr Berlusconi was alert and in stable condition. Mr Tajani is the co-ordinator of Forza Italia, the political party that Mr Berlusconi created 30 years ago.

"We're all very worried. I hope he has the strength in him to resist," said Deputy Culture Minister Vittorio Sgarbi, Mr Berlusconi's close friend.

Without citing any sources, Italian news agency ANSA reported that Mr Berlusconi had received chemotherapy.

Reporters gathering at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, where Silvio Berlusconi was admitted. AFP

Among the messages for a quick recovery was one from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who tweeted "Forza Silvio,” riffing off the football chant that Mr Berlusconi turned into the name of his political party, which is currently one of two junior coalition partners in Ms Meloni's nearly six-month-old right-wing government.

On Wednesday, during a Senate confidence roll-call vote when Berlusconi's name was called and an official said “absent,” a round of applause erupted from across the political spectrum in Parliament's upper chamber.