Medics are screening babies in Bradford Royal Infirmary's special-care baby unit for MRSA as part of a trial to combat the superbug.

The three-month trial, which means patients are tested for MRSA by being swabbed when they are admitted to the unit, is part of a larger ongoing pilot scheme targeting high-risk areas within the hospital.

Patients in the hospital's Vascular department and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) are also being screened and a three-month trial in Orthopaedics took place last year.

A spokesman for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital, said: "When we have the results of all these trials we will look at what the information has told us, how successful the screening is and where to go next.

"There is not one universal action that is taken if someone tests positive because everyone is different.

"If someone tests positive for MRSA through the screening, the ward team discusses the case with the infection control team. Infection control are always informed and they have specialised knowledge to make sure that person is treated in the best way possible. They will then put together an individual programme of care for that patient which will have precautionary measures tailored to that patient."

Measures could range from a carrier of the bug simply washing their hands with alcohol solution to isolation for an infected patient.

Patients will be screened for colonisation and infection so medics can tell if they are carrying the bacteria or if they have actually been infected by it.

In March new government figures revealed outbreaks of the potentially deadly MRSA superbug had more than doubled at Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust.

Infections soared to 35 between April and September last year - more than double the 15 cases recorded for the same period in 2003.

And it was higher than the previous highest number of cases - 33 infections from October 2002 to March 2003.

Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's had an infection rate of 0.25 cases per 1,000 hospital beds, compared to 0.21 cases six months earlier.

The figures prompted Councillor David Ward, chairman of the Bradford North area committee, to call for Bradford Council's Health Improvement Committee to probe the rising number of infections.

But today committee chairman Elaine Byrom said the committee was not planning an official inquiry.

She added: "That's not to say we will not look at it but at the moment it's not on the work plan."