HOSPITAL superbug infections in Scotland fell by more than one-third last year as methods to stop bugs spreading proved effective.
The latest annual report on healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) revealed 1465 patients aged over 65 tested positive for clostridium difficile in 2011, down from 1949 the year before and 2690 in 2009, the first year for which the data was compiled.
Health Protection Scotland (HPS) said the decrease had been driven by effective infection-control strategies and prescribing methods designed to limit antibiotic resistance.
The report also showed improvements in rates of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a potentially deadly blood infection, with a 38% fall in cases from 351 in 2010 to 219 last year.
Professor Jacqui Reilly, HPS lead consultant for HAI, said: "We are making real progress in the fight against HAI in Scotland and our surveillance systems are invaluable in helping to drive improvements.
"Surveillance helps us focus our efforts on the most important areas for prevention and control of these complex infections and we will continue to strive to reduce levels of HAI wherever possible."
Fears over superbugs were raised after C Diff outbreaks at the Vale of Leven Hospital in West Dunbartonshire during which 18 elderly patients died between 2007 and 2008, and an outbreak at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee that claimed the lives of five patients in 2009.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "This is good news and reflects the commitment and sustained effort of frontline healthcare workers who are delivering high-quality care on a daily basis across a wide range of health settings.
"I am in no doubt there is still more that can be done to ensure this progress is sustained."
Progress has also been made in reducing infections contracted during surgery, the most common form of HAIs, since surveillance was introduced in 2003. In 2011, 65 cases of surgical-site infection (SSI) were identified among the 7904 patients who underwent a total hip replacement, a rate of 0.8%.
Of the 15,789 women who had a caesarean section last year, 341 contracted infections, a rate of 2.2%. In 2003 there was an infection rate of 2.1% for total hip replacements and 2.3% for caesarean sections.
For the first time the report includes data on wards closed due to norovirus outbreaks. There was a peak of 22 closures in Scotland at any one time during the 2011/12 winter, making it a "low-impact year" against a high of 53 ward closures in 2009/10.
The data does not include the latest norovirus outbreak at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, Renfrewshire.
Scottish Labour's Shadow Health Secretary, Jackie Baillie, said: "The fact six people have died in recent days, 20 wards have been closed and more than 100 people across Scotland are suffering from norovirus symptoms should be a stark reminder the battle against hospital superbugs is far from over."
Evonne Curran, HPS nurse consultant in infection control, said it is currently seeing more cases of norovirus than expected, but summer outbreaks were not unusual.
She added: "There are only about three or four weeks in the year when there's not at least one ward closed due to norovirus."
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