Strain of MRSA which thrives in the community could be deadlier than hospital infections

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Unlike the normal superbug, community acquired MRSA produces a flesh-eating poison. It also spreads more quickly and is a particular threat to the young and healthy.

Around 40 Britons catch it each year - and it has claimed at least eight lives in the last three years.

Scientists now believe they may have pinpointed the key to its deadliness. The community-acquired MRSA produces a higher level of proteins than normal MRSA.

These rapidly destroy the white blood cells that are key in the body's fight against bacterial infections.

Tests also showed the bug somehow manages to time the production of the compounds to coincide with the point when a person's immunity is lowest, the journal Nature Medicine reports.

Community-acquired MRSA is a particular problem in the U.S., where it is the most common infection seen by doctors in casualty departments.

The scientists, from the U.S. governmentfunded National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, say the latest discovery could hasten the search for treatments.

NSAID director Dr Anthony Fauci said: "Understanding what makes the infections caused by these new strains so severe and developing new drugs to treat them are urgent public health priorities."

Often a disease of the young, the bug is passed on through close contact and can be caught from dirty sheets, and sharing towels or sports kits. Symptoms range from the superficial but painful - such as boils - to fatal blood poisoning.

Patients can die within 24 hours of it spreading to the lungs because of a form of pneumonia in which the flesh is rapidly eaten away by a poison produced by the bug. While antibiotic treatment exists, the drugs need to be given early for maximum effect.

It has recently made its way into British hospitals, killing two patients at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire last year.

The research comes as physicists carry out work on the use of laser beams to destroy infections ranging from MRSA to HIV.