DEADLY super bug MRSA has claimed the lives of two people in York in the last two years.

The deceased, thought to be a man and a woman, both died in York Hospital, although it is not known whether they acquired the bug in a community setting or in the hospital.

The Evening Press discovered the deaths under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Although we asked York Hospitals NHS Trust whether the people involved had been infected with MRSA or whether they already carried the bug on their skin, they said they did not have that information available.

So far this year, 138 cases of MRSA have been recorded at York Hospital - 28 of which were an infection.

This compares with 440 cases for the whole of 2004, where 31 were cases of infection.

We also asked the trust how many patients already had MRSA when they were admitted to the hospital, but a spokeswoman said the trust's systems did not record which infections were community acquired or otherwise.

Earlier this year, we reported that a patient at the hospital had been treated for MRSA. Since then, the families of two other patients have contacted the paper to say their relatives had also been treated for it.

Both patients were carriers of MRSA and were not infected, because the bacteria had not entered their bloodstream.

Inquests into the deaths of at least one of the patients will be held on June 29.

Mike Proctor, director of nursing, said other patients might have had MRSA recorded as a cause of death, but the hospital did not routinely collate information from death certificates.

Mr Proctor said the hospital was not asked to collect such information, partly because the information was already collated by the General Register Office of Births Marriages and Deaths.

A spokeswoman for North Yorkshire Health Protection Unit confirmed MRSA was non-notifiable as outlined under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984.

Jim Easton, chief executive of York Hospitals NHS Trust, said he could not comment on the deaths before the inquests because of patient confidentiality. But he said there would be investigations into the "tragic" cases.

He said: "As has been covered previously in the Evening Press, the trust continues to take the issue of hospital acquired infection seriously and has made some welcome progress in reducing these levels over the last year. I am confident that work will continue in the coming months through further improvements in hand hygiene, clinical practice and working with staff, patients and relatives.

"Although York compares comparatively well to many other UK hospitals we will continue to make tackling MRSA and all hospital infections a top priority of the trust.

A spokeswoman for the trust said: "The purpose of the inquest is to determine the cause of death, and therefore it would be entirely inappropriate for us to comment.

"We have fully co-operated at all times with the coroner. Of course we will make a full comment once the coroner has reached his verdict. Until then, everything is pure speculation and will only serve to cause further anxiety for our patients."

Updated: 10:58 Thursday, June 23, 2005