SAO PAULO, March 13 (Reuters) – Brazil’s imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro was hospitalized in an intensive care unit on Friday after being diagnosed with bronchopneumonia, according to a medical note from the DF Star hospital.
Bolsonaro, 70, was taken to the hospital early on Friday with a high fever, chills and a drop in oxygen saturation, the note said, adding that he is being treated with antibiotics.
The former president’s condition is serious and he is expected to remain in hospital for at least the next few days, one of the doctors treating him, Brasil Caiado, told reporters in Brasilia.
Surgery has been ruled out for now, Caiado said.
The former president, who governed from 2019 to 2022, has a history of hospitalizations and surgeries related to a stabbing during a 2018 campaign event.
He had been hospitalized in January for a series of exams after falling and hitting his head. In December, he underwent medical procedures to treat a hernia and persistent hiccups.
Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo and Isabel Teles; Editing by Toby Chopra, Rod Nickel)
