A NEW and powerful strain of superbug infection has killed 29 people in one year in South-ampton, it has been revealed today.

Almost 1,000 cases of E.coli superbug infections were confirmed in the area up to early this year. Last year alone nearly 360 cases were diagnosed.

Now health chiefs are encouraging GPs to test patients for the infection, which can destroy penicillin and strikes the elderly and infirm.

The details are contained in the annual report by the government's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson.

He blames the large increases in infections on antibiotic-resistant strains of E.coli occurring around the city.

The bug has also been identified elsewhere in the UK and is part of a growing problem worldwide.

An investigation by the Health Protection Agency and Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the city's three hospitals, looked at a single strain of infection first recognised in 2003.

They discovered 998 confirmed cases in the area up to early 2005.

In 2004, which saw a large number of cases of the infection, 357 were hospitalised and 29 patients died.

The investigation found that many infections were community-acquired and there was no clustering of patients in any particular ward or clinical area.

Patients are screened when admitted to hospital for infections including E.coli and MRSA and this was when many of the infections would have been discovered.

More on this story in tonight's Daily Echo.