Deadly superbugs at the Luton & Dunstable Hospital are decreasing, according to the latest statistics.

Figures released by the Health Protection Agency for January to March 2008 reveal that there was only one case of bloodstream infection MRSA at the hospital and 17 cases of the Clostridium Difficile infection (C Diff).

And yesterday, the L&D revealed that between April and June the number of C Diff infections fell again to just 13 cases - a massive improvement on the same period last year that recorded 90 incidents of the infection.

Hospital spokesman Barry Mayes said: "That is partly due to improvements in cleaning but we have introduced a way of prescribing antibiotics differently. C Diff is often an extreme reaction to antibiotics. So we have a procedure where we quickly identify what antibiotics the patient is on and change them or reduce the dose."

And since November last year there have been just three cases of the MRSA infection at the L&D.

Mr Mayes said: "We are talking low figures but, of course, any infection in our book is unacceptable and our ambition is to have zero MRSA.

"The L&D is a safe hospital and we have got robust strategies tackling MRSA and C Diff, as evidenced by these numbers."

L&D