SOUTHAMPTON General Hospital has been hit by an outbreak of the potentially lethal MRSA superbug.

A dozen patients at the hospital are currently being treated after being struck down by the bug.

The patients have been isolated in the E5 surgical ward and given powerful antibiotics as hospital bosses attempt to bring the situation under control.

Medical staff have been ordered to pay extra attention to hygiene to prevent the methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus bug spreading.

MRSA can cause fevers, blood poisoning and pneumonia if left untreated, and can kill people with weak immune systems and those who have had open wound operations.

Hospital spokesman Peter Campion said: "Unfortunately, like every other hospital in every other town in the country, the MRSA bug is not uncommon in this hospital. It's becoming a fact of life.

"We're dealing with it in the normal way by isolating the affected patients and treating them with antibiotics. The ward is not shut but the affected patients have been concentrated in one corner. We're obviously being quite strict on hygiene in the ward and not allowing people to just come and go.

"MRSA is not a risk to most people - many of us carry it around with us every day. It is a risk if you've had open wound surgery or if you have a weak immune system.

"In those situations it can be life-threatening, that's why we act so quickly to manage the situation and stop it spreading out of any wards where it appears."

In 1997 Winnifred Graves, 74, from Maybush in Southampton, died from MRSA after a wound became infected following a routine leg operation.

Incidence of the superbug, which is resistant to antibiotics, has risen 12-fold nationally in the last eight years.

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