Berlusconi’s doctor says he’s responding well to treatment

ROME (AP) — Silvio Berlusconi’s doctor, who is treating him for a lung infection, said Saturday that the former Italian premier is responding well to treatment in an intensive care unit at a Milan hospital, an Italian news agency reported.

Alberto Zangrillo, who also heads the ICU at San Raffaele hospital where the Italian media mogul was admitted on Wednesday, said Berlusconi “is used to responding with his best” and that despite the “grave illness in a truly difficult situation, he’s responding well to the treatments,” ANSA reported.

Zangrillo revealed earlier in the week that Berlusconi, 86, has had a chronic form of leukemia for some time.

On Saturday, Berlusconi was visited by a longtime advisor, Gianni Letta, who said, “I found him better than what I thought” and eager to rebound.

“You know how every time he sets an aim, he reaches it,” Letta told reporters outside the hospital.

In remarks to reporters, Zangrillo referred to the infection as a “complication,” given Berlusconi’s chronic leukemia. Earlier in the week, Berlusconi’s doctors said they were treating his lung infection and giving him medicine to “restore preexisting clinical conditions” given the leukemia.

Berlusconi also has a history of heart problems, and in 2020, he was hospitalized with COVID-19 and pneumonia.