A MANCHESTER hospital is employing a new weapon in the war on the killer bug MRSA - bedside curtains.

They may look like conventional hospital curtains drawn to give patients privacy. But they can, in fact, kill MRSA bacteria in 30 seconds.

Now with the spotlight on MRSA infection rates in hospitals, experts have realised that the curtains, which may not be replaced for years, could the biggest breeding ground for hospital-acquired illnesses.

A company has now designed a unique material coated in an MRSA-fighting chemical to combat the problem.

The Christie Hospital is the first NHS centre in Greater Manchester to be supplied with the disposable curtains, after experts spent months testing their effectiveness.

The disposable fabric is impregnated with a unique anti-bacterial chemical which kills all MRSA or salmonella bacteria on contact. It also prevents the spread of the superbug onto the next patient who occupies that bed.

After a year, the curtain can be topped up with the chemical coating.

Laurence Marshall, managing director of Birmingham-based Marshall Contracts, which produces the curtains, said: "This chemical works like a disinfectant, but it gets the bacteria to stick on the fabric before eradicating it.

"People have been cleaning bedside cabinets and beds for years, never realising that the curtain surrounding the patient could be spreading bacteria. They are drawn around patients when they are at their most vulnerable, such as when a wound is being dressed.

"Now people are beginning to realise that the curtain could be an effective weapon against hospital-acquired infections."

This is the latest in a series of MRSA-busting ideas. Manchester University scientists are also currently working on an MRSA-fighting bedside cabinet which works in a similar way to the curtain.

Meanwhile, scientists based at Hope Hospital, Salford, have recently been given a grant to study the effects of aromatherapy on the antibiotic-resistant superbug.

MRSA-methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is credited with killing almost 1,000 people a year, and it is said to cost the NHS over £1bn a year.

rebecca.camber@men-news.co.uk