A potentially fatal 'superbug' hit almost 200 patients at Bradford's hospitals.

The Clostridium difficile (C.difficle) infection, which causes diarrhoea and can cause serious illness and death in the eld-erly, struck 175 patients at Bradford Royal Infirmary and the city's St Luke's Hospital between March 2004 and March 2005.

C.difficle came into the national spotlight recently following an outbreak of a new, and more virulent, strain of the bug at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire. There 12 people died and more than 300 people were infected.

At Airedale Hospital at Steeton near Keighley in 2004, 135 patients - out of 45,000 seen - were diagnosed with C.difficle. However, none had the new strain which hit Stoke Mandeville.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was unable to say whether or not anyone had been affected by the new strain in Bradford's hospitals because they said the new type had yet to be identified so it could be monitored.

A spokesman said: "There is no monitoring in place (in Bradford) for the new strain because we do not know if it's a new strain. To monitor for a new strain you would have to do a new study. We will be guided by what the Department of Health and the Health Protection Agency find.

"All patients who develop diarrhoea in hospital have a sample taken to test for Clostridium difficile infection.

"Patients with diarrhoea are isolated to reduce the spread to other patients and are reported to the infection control team.

"A ward investigation is also carried out to see if there are any connected cases."

The Trust said it is committed to meeting the Matron's Charter - a national action plan for cleaner hospitals launched last October and that it is trialling different methods of cleaning.

Airedale NHS Trust said staff are doing their best to prevent the potential spread of infection in the hospital and from patients who arrive carrying an infection.

A spokesman said: "Since 2004 we have adopted a new system whereby we test every case of diarrhoea in patients over the age of 65."

C.difficile usually leads to a relatively mild illness but can lead to death.

The Health Protection Agency said no specific advice is being issued on the bug or its new strain. A spokesman said: "It's just one of a number of a whole range of bacteria that can cause problems that we monitor. There's no reason to think anywhere else would have the same problem as Stoke Mandeville."