8:19pm Thursday 1st November 2007
By Julian Robinson
HOSPITALS in Hampshire have seen mixed results as they battle to drive down deadly super bugs on their wards.
Figures released today show the number of cases of the potentially lethal MRSA and Clostridium Difficile (C diff) have fallen in Southampton hospitals.
But wards in Winchester, Eastleigh and the Isle of Wight, saw an increase in cases of the two bugs compared to the same time last year.
The Health Protection Agency statistics show quarterly reports of infection rates with the most recent period measured between April and June this year.
Southampton University Hospital NHS Trust, which takes in Southampton General Hospital, saw cases of MRSA more than halve from 15 between April and June 2006 to just six in the same period in 2007.
The number of reports of C-Diff also dropped to 173 from 219 a year ago - however it had risen from figures recorded between October and December 2006.
Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare saw cases of both infections increase over the space of a year.
MRSA figures went from three between April and June 2006 to four in the same period this year.
C.Diff figures also rose from 40 in April to June 2006 to 47 this year.
Meanwhile cases of C-Diff on Isle of Wight Healthcare wards leapt from 20 to 31 over the year.
Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust however reported a drop in cases of both bugs.
Nationally, HPA data showed a 10 per cent drop in cases in MRSA, from 7,069 between April 2005 to March 2006 to 6,381 between April 2006 and March 2007.
But the agency warned the figures should be interpreted with care as there had been recent changes to the way the number of cases were monitored that may have impacted on the figures.
Georgia Duckworth, from the HPA Centre For Infections, said there had been a reduction in the latest quarterly figures for C-Diff but it looked like cases were beginning to level out.
She said: "What it now looks like is that we might be going into the plateau.
"Let's hope this marks the beginning of a plateauing that goes into a downturn."
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