Whitehall

Vaccines against the hospital bugs MRSA and Clostridium difficile (C diff) will be available in the next decade, according to the Government’s chief medical officer, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson.

In a preview of themes contained in his annual report, officially published today, Sir Liam told The Observer that vaccines could be used in two ways.

“One would be protecting the individual, somebody who was going into hospital for a major operation,” he said. “The other way of looking at it would be to try to interrupt the chain of transmission - to study the pattern of infection in the community, in hospitals and nursing homes, and try to eradicate the pools of infection.”

In April figures showed a slight rise in the number of cases of MRSA across England after months of decline. The Health Protection Agency released data showing a 0.6 per cent rise in the number of cases - 1,087 - during October to December 2007 compared with the previous three months.

Figures for C diff showed an 8 per cent drop, to 9,872 cases in patients aged 65 and over between October and December 2007 compared with the previous quarter. However, the HPA gave warning that changes to how NHS trusts report their C diff figures could have influenced the result.

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