CASES of superbug infections have dropped significantly in East Lancashire, hospital bosses have said.

Last year, just six patients were reported to be infected with the potentially life-threatening bug MRSA, which was down from nine the year before.

The figure was released after a report by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) into superbugs and levels of antibiotic use in hospital trusts in autumn 2011.

But the agency warned that while MRSA and C-dificile cases had reduced other bugs such as E-coli and salmonella were starting to increase.

East Lancashire is following the national trend with regards to superbugs, with an overall drop in cases of healthcare-associated infections, from 8.2 per cent of patients in 2006 to 6.4 per cent last year.

Sajjad Mirza, consultant microbiologist and deputy director of infection prevention and control at East Lancashire Hospital NHS Trust, put the results down to better detection and the encouragement of more rigorous handwashing.

He said: “The number of cases of MRSA and C-dificile has been coming down over the last four or five years.

“It is really reassuring and we have not had any infections for more than 50 days.

“This is down to team work.

“We have a great screening service to detect MRSA quickly and to deal with it quickly.

“We also have specialist MRSA nurses and we have people coming from other hospitals to learn how we are dealing with the infections.”

Dr Sajjad said most of the newer infections were brought in from outside the hospital, but the trust would continue to strive to be 100 per cent infection free.

He said: “We are continuing with good screening and we have a very robust system in place so that these patients who are detected are cared for in isolation and are given decontamination quickly.

“We are not sitting back, we are active and are trying to improve.

“The main concern for the trust is patient safety and we are trying to work on that.”

He said handwashing and hygiene would continue to be main priorities for the trust.

In total, 103 organisations took part in the national survey, with 50,778 patients from the NHS and 1,665 private patients.

Dr Susan Hopkins, healthcare epidemiologist at the HPA and the lead author of the report, said: “It is clear we need to find ways to control and prevent transmission of these bacteria and this is an important priority.”