Italy ex-premier Berlusconi has leukaemia, source says

This photograph shows Forza Italia party leader and Italian former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi at the Senate, in Rome, on Oct 26, 2022. (PHOTO / AP)

MILAN – Four-times Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been diagnosed with leukaemia, a source close to the matter said on Thursday.

The source confirmed a report by the Corriere della Sera daily.

The 86-year-old Berlusconi has been treated in intensive care since Wednesday in a cardiac unit of Milan's San Raffaele hospital, after suffering breathing problems.

READ MORE: Italy wages war on lab-grown food in drive to protect tradition

The billionaire media tycoon, who made his fortune from commercial television, has suffered repeated bouts of ill-health in recent years and had came out of the same hospital just last week.