CASES of a hospital superbug have dropped in York this year - despite a national rise.

Figures released by the Health Protection Agency show that Wigginton Road has managed to drive down rates C Difficile (Clostridium Difficile) so far this year.

Between January and March in 2006 - a time of year when C Difficile is most likely to occur - there were 34 cases among patients aged over 65 at York Hospital.

During the same period this year, that had dropped to 31. Nationally, cases of C Difficile in that age group rose by 200 between January and March this year when compared to the same three months last year. Over the course of 2006, there were 140 C Difficile cases in York. That was more than the 97 cases the year before, but below 158 in 2004.

When it came to MRSA, there were 14 incidents in York from April 2006 to the end of March this year.

That compared to 20 cases the year before (2005/6), and 28 the year before that.

Vicki Parkin, senior infection control nurse at York Hospital, said a "robust" strategy was in place to fight bugs.

This included prescribing antibiotics more effectively and continually monitoring hot spots when they hit York's wards so they could be quickly dealt with.

But she said while a clean, decontaminated environment helped stop bugs spreading, it was a myth that dirt was the cause of MRSA and C Difficile.

She said: "A dirty hospital is unacceptable, but it's not the cause of MRSA and C Difficile. These are antibiotic-related conditions."

Every hospital in England which treats patients over the age of 65 had to provide information on cases of these bugs as part of research by the Health Protection Agency.

The agency started collecting C Difficile monthly data for patients aged two and over from April this year.

C Difficile infections are the main cause of hospital-acquired diarrhoea. Although three per cent of adults and 66 per cent of children have the C Difficile bacteria in their gut, it does not cause problems unless certain kinds of antibiotics are prescribed.

Harrogate Hospital had 93 cases of C Difficile last year - a higher rate than in York.