CASES of hospital superbug MRSA have risen in this district’s health area.

This is despite them falling in other parts of the country.

A Health Protection Agency report showed that the number of cases in the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust had risen from six between July and September, 2006, to nine during the same period last year.

But the number of infections involving the Clostridium difficile bug in this area have fallen.

Between July and September 2006, there were 49 cases in the NHS trust area, but the number fell to 42 during the same period last year.

David Birkenhead, the trust’s director of infection prevention and control, said: “The latest MRSA figures are disappointing in view of all the extra measures and funding that have been dedicated to the battle against the infection.

“We are investigating every case in a bid to further improve our measures to tackle the problem.”

He said that most MRSA patients tested positive within the first 48 hours of arriving at hospital, suggesting they came in with the infection.

He said staff and visitors in hospitals were aware of the need to use alcohol hand gels to reduce the spread of infection.

Mr Birkenhead said the trust was not complacent, even though cases of C.diff had fallen consistently over the past few years.

He added: “We must do everything we can to bring down the number of hospital acquired infections.”

Despite the slight rise in MRSA cases Mr Birkenhead said the picture was not all gloom.

He said: “It is important to remember that nearly 90,000 people are treated as inpatients with us each year and that the chances of acquiring a MRSA bloodstream infection are very low.”

The agency report showed that in Yorkshire there were 120 MRSA cases from July to September last year, as against 167 between those months in 2006.

The number of C.diff cases in the county from July to September in 2007 was 930, a big drop from the 1,376 diagnosed during that period in 2006.

The report revealed that the worst-performing NHS trust was Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which covers the Wakefield district and North Kirklees.

It saw a rise of more than 50% in MRSA cases, from 14 between July and September, 2006, to 23 for the same period last year.

Across England there were 1,072 MRSA cases from July to September last year, an 18% reduction on that period in 2006.

From July to September, 2007, there were 10,734 cases of C.diff in patients aged 65 and over throughout England.

The figure is 21% less than the 13,669 cases for that period in 2006.