Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has ordered an inquiry into the outbreak of a potentially deadly bug at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire.

Since 2003, 12 patients at the hospital have died from the infection and newspaper reports indicate that more than 300 have become infected with a virulent strain of Clostridium Difficile at the hospital.

Researchers have identified a potentially fatal new strain of the hospital acquired infection which can cause severe diarrhoea.

The Health Secretary said: "My officials are already talking to the Healthcare Commission about what might be the appropriate form of that inquiry.

"But the only thing that matters in the short term at Stoke Mandeville is to get the infection under control and protect patients from further spreading of that infection."

However, the spread is difficult to contain as the bacterial spores produced by the organism are resistant to alcohol wipes and the antibacterial hand gels commonly used by staff to clean their hands.

Cases of the infection have risen dramatically within the last 14 years. 1,000 cases were reported in the UK in 1990, but over 43,600 were reported last year.

While the infection is usually self-limiting in healthy individuals, elderly patients or those with a weakened immune system may succumb to the effects of an overwhelming infection.

Earlier this month Buckinghamshire Hospital Trust said everything possible was being done to control the spread of the infection at Stoke Mandeville, the only hospital in the UK to report large numbers of cases of Clostridium Difficile infection.

An isolation ward has been set up at Stoke Mandeville and new cleaning protocols have been implemented.

Guidance issued by the Department of Health recommended that hospital staff should wash their hands with soap and water in an attempt to halt the spread of the infection.

(SP/MB)