More than two thousand cases of a dangerous new hospital bug have been reported at hospitals across the region.

The first set of national statistics on clostridium difficile cases published yesterday suggests that this new hospital health problem is far more widespread than expected.

While some North-East hospital trusts have had hundreds of cases reported none of the region's hospitals are in the top 50 clostridium difficile league table for English hospital trusts.

Earlier this year it was revealed that at least 26 patients a year were dying in England as a result of becoming infected with the bug.

Clostridium difficile can cause severe diarrhoea and potentially life-threatening inflammation of the bowel.

So far it has mostly affected elderly people, although there are reports that it has hit younger patients. So far most attention has been on the drug resistant so-called superbug Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) which has claimed patients' lives all over the UK.

Experts say both infections occur naturally in the population but can become a serious health problem if sick and vulnerable, often elderly, patients become infected.

Once again the issue of hospital cleanliness is seen as the key to infection control, with the need for thorough handwashing by hospital staff highlighted by the report.

The largest number of clostridium difficile cases reported between April 2003 and March 2004 - 370 - occurred at the large Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust, which includes the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Freeman Hospital and Newcastle General Hospital.

However, in terms of the rate of clostridium difficile cases per 1,000 bed days for patients aged over 65, the Newcastle trust's figure of 1.37 makes the Tyneside trust pretty average for England.

This is true for all North-Eastern and North Yorkshire hospital trusts.

The trust with the highest regional rate of clostridium difficile reports is the South Tyneside trust in South Shields with 2.19 per 1000 bed days. The trust with the lowest rate is Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare with 0.70 per 1000 bed days.

Full list (with rate in brackets):

County Durham and Darlington 291 (l.05)

City Hospitals Sunderland 383 (2.09)

Gateshead Health 197 (1.23)

Harrogate and District 83 (1.01)

Newcastle Hospitals 370 (1.37)

North Tees and Hartlepool 157 (1.04)

Northumbria 367 (1.27)

Scarborough and NE Yorks 90 (0.70)

South Tees Hospitals 316 (1.53)

South Tyneside 238 (2.19)

York 158 (0.93).