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SUPERBUG cases at Furness General Hospital rose over the past year.
An Evening Mail request under the Freedom of Information Act revealed a 15 per cent overall increase in cases of MRSA between 2003 and 2004.
The bacteria, which has been associated with poor hygiene on hospital wards, has caused a nationwide controversy over the number of patients who acquire illnesses while already in hospital.
Up to 5,000 people die from such diseases in hospitals across the country every year, according to the National Audit Office.
Among FGH inpatients a total of 226 cases were diagnosed with MRSA in 2004, compared with 167 in 2003 and 174 in 2002.
Cases discovered among out-patients or by GPs actually fell overall between 2002 and 2004.
In June 2004 Second World War veteran Fred Hill became the first patient at the hospital to die solely as a result of MRSA, which he contracted after a routine bladder operation.
