HEALTH chiefs have been criticised for the way they alerted the public about a deadly new strain of the bacterial infection Clostridium difficile (C.diff).

Health Protection Scotland (HPS) "could have been more proactive" when it revealed last week three hospital patients died after contracting a new strain, Public Health Minister Michael Matheson said at Holyrood.

HPS did not disclose the name of the hospitals, or NHS board, due to patient confidentiality.

NHS Fife later confirmed it was the board in question but still refuses to identify the hospitals.

Mr Matheson answered questions from MSPs about the new strain yesterday.

He said: "When it comes to these types of issues there is always the potential for partial information to be misinterpreted as though there is a desire to try to withhold information.

"Health Protection Scotland could have been more proactive in the information it made available from the outset to give public assurance, while at the same time balancing that with patient confidentiality issues. The proactive action that was taken forward by NHS Fife helped to address any potential concerns that may have arisen as a result of information that HPS made available."

NHS boards were alerted to the strain, ribotype 332, on April 23, Mr Matheson said. A reference to it was published by HPS in its weekly report on May 1.

Two patients being cared for at the same hospital died, one in December and the second in January. A third patient within the NHS Fife area died last month. All were seriously ill with underlying conditions.

Mr Matheson said no changes to antibiotic treatment are needed.

"There is no evidence to suggest the identification of this ribotype poses a greater health risk to the public than other known strains," he added.

A ribotype is the pattern of DNA fragments particular to a bacterial strain. Ribotyping is the name given to the process of identifying this pattern which allows scientists to differentiate between different strains.

HPS earlier said the three cases were not classed as an outbreak because the third case was not linked to the first two.

Investigations are ongoing into the strain, with past samples retested to ensure no cases had been missed.

It is understood another diagnosis of the 332 strain had been made in Europe.

Another strain of C.diff –ribotype 244 – has been detected in Scotland and is from the same family as the bug which sparked a deadly outbreak at the Vale of Leven Hospital in West Dunbartonshire in 2007.

Latest figures show that 313 new cases of C.diff infection in patients aged 65 and over were reported to HPS between October and December 2012. In total, 120 new cases in patients aged 15 to 64 were reported to HPS during the same period.

Both infection rates indicate a slight decrease on the same period the previous year.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that relatives of a pensioner who died at a Scottish hospital after contracting C.diff on a ward where others had already died of the infection are to sue the health board they believe is responsible for her death.

Gladys Storrier was receiving treatment for a bowel problem at Dundee's Ninewells Hospital when she contracted C.diff in the autumn of 2009.

A number of other people had already died in the hospital of the same disease before Mrs Storrier, 75, was admitted to the same ward – ward 31 – an assessment unit for elderly patients.