Hospitals are winning the war on MRSA, but C. diff is making a comeback

The number of MRSA infections in England's hospitals has fallen - but another superbug is back on the rise, official figures showed last night.

Recorded MRSA bloodstream infections fell by 11 per cent from January to March, to 966 cases.

This puts the Government on course to meet its target to cut the number of cases this year to half the 2004 rate.

But the rate of Clostridium difficile in patients aged 65 and over rose 6 per cent over the same quarter, to 10,586 cases - reversing a trend of steady falls.

The annual infections report by the Health Protection Agency insisted there were 'early indications' that C. diff cases are falling.

Figures for January to March 2008 showed a 32 per cent reduction in C. diff compared with the same quarter last year.

A total of 966 cases of MRSA
bloodstream infections were reported from January to March.

Annual figures suggested a 30 per cent drop in MRSA in the financial year 2007/08 compared with 2006/07.

But critics say the real incidence of MRSA could be much higher, as figures only record cases in the bloodstream.

This covers only 15 to 20 per cent of all hospital cases. The superbug affects other organs and even bloodstream cases may be under reported.

Alan Johnson says there is a relentless focus on best practice

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said: 'We are tackling infections on every front with a relentless focus on cleanliness, best practice guidance on antibiotic prescribing, isolating patients and more infection control staff with more powers to help drive down infection rates.'

But Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: 'These figures show that ministers' claims of success were premature.

'The increase in C. diff is particularly disturbing given that it was looking as though progress was being made in the fight against superbugs.

'This casts doubt on the Government's strategy, which focused on a clinically unjustified deep clean, and has ignored the problem of superbugs in care homes and nursing homes.

'Ministers have failed to implement best practice across the country, with some hospitals winning the fight against superbugs, and others failing massively.'

Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley said: 'Every case of a hospital infection is one too many, but in four years Labour hasn't even been able to halve MRSA rates, an aim that wasn't ambitious enough to start with.

'This shows just how much they've dithered and delayed over tackling hospital infections.'

Professor Peter Borriello, director of the HPA's centre for infections, said: 'It is worth remembering that not all healthcare-associated infections are preventable.

'However, this shouldn't lead to complacency around tackling the infections that are preventable and engaging in the battle to continually drive down rates of healthcare-associated infections.

'These figures show that there can be, and have been, significant reductions.'