13 February,2014 09:10 AM IST | | Agencies
Following a horrific skiing accident, comatose Formula One legend and seven time champion Michael Scumacher is now battling pneumonia, according to reports
Berlin: Formula One legend Michael Schumacher, who is still lying in a coma in a French hospital, has contracted a lung infection, possibly pneumonia, the German newspaper Bild reported yesterday.
The effects on the fragile state of health of the 45-year-old were unknown, it said, without citing sources.
The Bild report added that the seven-time Formula One champ is being treated with strong antibiotics as his doctors are trying to ascertain just how dangerous the infection is.
Pneumonia is a respiratory condition where the lungs are inflamed. It can be life-threatening for people in Schumacher's condition.
Schumacher's spokeswoman, Sabine Kehm, told the newspaper: "We are not commenting on speculation."
Schumacher has been in a coma since his December 29 ski accident, when he badly injured his head, causing serious swelling of the brain.
The doctors treating him in the hospital in the French city of Grenoble two weeks ago said they were trying to coax him out of the coma by reducing his sedation. Kehm said the process could take some time.
With little information being given to media, the hospital has been left to fend off rumours. Last Thursday, it had to deny speculation flaring on social networks that Schumacher had died.
