Cancer News, Treatment and Research

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is being treated for “respiratory deficiency” after complications from a severe lung infection, his government said on Thursday. In a missive released in the early hours, communications minister Ernesto Villegas said the president’s condition required “strict compliance with his medical treatment” after complications linked to his fourth cancer operation in 18 months. But the statement gave no indication of Chavez’s current physical state or prognosis, having previously admitted his health was in a “delicate” way following surgery for an undisclosed type of cancer. Instead, the government used the message to step up its criticism of mounting speculation that Chavez is close to death, which would present constitutional chaos ahead of his scheduled inauguration on January 10. Reports have claimed the Socialist leader, who has been in power for 14 years, was being kept alive by life support machines and was in an induced coma in Cuba. Senior ministers have repeatedly dismissed any rumours as the work of the Venezuelan right, urging the public to ignore them and to support the president, who was re-elected in October. Read more: www.telegraph.co.uk Get the latest headlines www.telegraph.co.uk Subscribe to The Telegraph www.youtube.com Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com Follow us on Twitter twitter.com Follow us on Google+ plus.google.com Telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com/TelegraphTV are websites of The Daily Telegraph, the UK’s best-selling …