A string of international reports are claiming that American music icon‚ Prince‚ was suffering from AIDS before his death last week but refused treatment.

According to a source speaking to The National Enquirer‚ Prince had been “preparing to die for a little while‚” after being diagnosed with AIDS.

Doctors apparently told the pop star that his blood count was unusually low and that his body temperature had dropped below the average temperature.

“He was totally iron-deficient‚ very weak and often disoriented. He rarely ate and when he did‚ it all came right back up. His face was yellowish‚ the skin on his neck was hanging off and the tips of fingers were a brownish-yellow‚” the source told the publication.

Despite this‚ the source says that Prince- a devote Jehovah’s Witness- believed he could be cured of the disease by prayer.

Prince had apparently developed HIV back in the 1990’s but refused treatment on religious grounds.

The condition apparently developed into AIDS near the end of last year.

It is also being reported that shortly before the singer was found dead at his Paisley Park mansion in Minnesota‚ he was apparently seen visiting a local pharmacy to pick up bags of prescription drugs to treat a severe case of influenza.

An employee who served Prince told the Enquirer‚ “We were all just shocked that he came in last night looking so beat. “We said‚ ‘We are praying for you’. He said‚ almost under his breath‚ ‘Maybe if you prayed for me a year ago it’d be different right now.’ Then he waved and said thanks anyway.”