Fresh fears about the health of stricken Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher emerged today. The seven-time world champion has contracted a lung infection – thought to be pneumonia – while in a coma following a skiing accident, it was reported. Doctors are treating the infection with powerful antibiotics although it is not known how dangerous the infection is, sources have told German newspaper Bild. It is understood the 45-year-old contracted the infection last week at University Hospital in Grenoble, Switzerland, where he has been treated for the past six weeks. Schumacher’s spokeswoman Sabine Kehm would not comment on what she described as ‘speculation’. She said: ‘As always, my answer is: announcements about Schumacher’s health status that are not done by his official doctors or by his management need to be treated as speculation’. Pneumonia can affect up to half of those who lie in a coma for as long as Schumacher has. Being unable to swallow properly can make saliva run into the lungs, triggering the potentially lethal infection. Schumacher has been unconscious since the accident on December 29 left him with serious head injuries and a swollen brain. Two weeks ago, doctors began trying to coax him out of the coma by reducing his sedation. With little information being given to the media about his condition, however, the hospital has been left to fend off rumours. Last week, it had to deny speculation on social networks he had died. Schumacher’s wife Corinna has spent hours talking to her husband at his bedside to try to bring him round. Source
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