• Berlusconi, 86, is suffering from leukaemia
• Currently in intensive care for lung infection
• Taken to hospital on Wednesday with breathing problems
• Billionaire media tycoon leads Forza Italia party

MILAN, April 7 (Reuters) – Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi spent a second night calmly in the intensive care unit of Milan’s San Raffaele hospital and is reacting positively to treatment, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Friday.

The 86-year-old billionaire media tycoon was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday, heightening concerns over his fragile health.

He has suffered from chronic blood cancer for some time and is in intensive care for a lung infection, his doctors said on Thursday.

Tajani, a long-time ally of the four-time prime minister, told RAI state television that he had spoken to Berlusconi’s personal doctor Alberto Zangrillo and the picture seemed more reassuring.

“(Zangrillo) told me he had a good sleep, that he is under intensive care and is reacting positively to the treatment,” Tajani said.

“This gives us reason to be optimistic. (Berlusconi) is a lion and is also physically strong. We want to be optimistic.”

Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition, though he does not have a direct role in her government.

In Forza Italia, “we are all working and following the course of the disease with friendship and love. I hope he can recover as soon as possible,” Tajani said.

Meloni and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said on Thursday they had spoken to Berlusconi by telephone.

Forza Italia said Berlusconi had also spoken to some senior party officials.

“It was the best phone call I could have received,” said Salvini, who is leader of the anti-immigrant League party.

Italian news agency ANSA reported that Berlusconi is reacting well to his chemo therapy for chronic leukemia and antibiotics for pneumonia and this form of leukemia is treatable, sources close to the three-time ex-premier and media mogul said.
The conditions of the 86-year-old media billionaire “today mark an encouraging improvement on yesterday,” the sources said.

“Although the situation imposes the utmost prudence, the ex-premier is reacting in a positive way to the antibiotic therapy decided to treat the pneumonia which arose in the last few days.
“The form of chronic leukemia he has been affected with for some time is not rare for individuals of his age and it is normally treated with minimally invasive therapies, permitting an almost normal quality of life”.

In their first statement on his condition, doctors Alberto Zangrillo and Fabio Ciceri revealed that Berlusconi had been diagnosed in the past with Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukaemia (CML). They did not specify when the cancer was first spotted, saying only that it was not acute.

“Silvio Berlusconi is currently in intensive care for the treatment of a lung infection,” they said, adding that the illness was related to the cancer.

CML affects white blood cells and in most cases cannot be cured, doctors say. Around 70% of men will live for at least five years after their diagnosis while younger adults tend to have a better outlook, according to advice provided to patients by Britain’s National Health Service.

Three of Berlusconi’s five children, daughter Marina and sons Luigi and Pier Silvio, were seen arriving at the hospital on Thursday. His close friend and business partner Fedele Confalonieri also visited.

“We’re more optimistic, today (he looks) much better than yesterday,” Confalonieri told reporters.

His health has deteriorated in recent years. He had heart surgery in 2016, has also had prostate cancer, and has been repeatedly admitted to hospital since contracting COVID-19 in 2020.