In the first three months of the year, there was just one case of the "superbug", MRSA, at Winchester's Royal Hampshire County Hospital-and the patient survived.

Last year, five of the 24 patients there who fell victim to the bacteria, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, died.

For the first time, annual figures are being kept of the deadly infection which has spread nationwide despite a crackdown on cleanliness in hospitals.

NHS figures show that 5,475 cases were discovered in hospitals in England in the last nine months of 2001.

The Government ordered a £60m hospital clean-up two years ago after the National Audit Office found that hospital-acquired infections killed 5,000 people a year and cost the NHS more than £1bn.

A spokesman for the RHCH, said: "We treat infection control and, in particular, MRSA, very seriously here.

"We have a big programme of infection-control training, including basic hygiene such as hand-washing."

She said patients were screened for MRSA before being sent to orthopaedic or vascular wards where patients were recovering from surgery such as hip implants.

Those found to be carrying the bug were "barrier-nursed" in separate cubicles on general surgical wards.