Berlusconi has scarlet fever, to miss summit: minister
(LUXEMBOURG) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has contracted scarlet fever and will not be able to attend this week's European Union summit in Brussels, Italy's foreign minister said Tuesday.
"As you know, Prime Minister Berlusconi has scarlet fever," Franco Frattini said after talks with his EU counterparts in Luxembourg.
"I am in regular contact with him, and it is I who will be travelling to Brussels on Thursday and Friday," said Frattini, who was EU justice commissioner before taking up his post in the Italian government.
Italian news agency ANSA has reported that Berlusconi, 73, had contracted a mild form of the illness, which can result in a sore throat, fever and a red rash, from one of his grandchildren.
Doctors routinely recommend that children with the disease be kept at home for two weeks. It is rare for adults to contract it.
The EU summit in the Belgian capital will focus on consultations for two new high-ranking jobs created by the Lisbon Treaty, which could enter force next year, and on climate change.
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