A STUDY by the John Radcliffe Hospital suggests hospitals may be adopting the wrong strategy for tackling a notorious bug.

Research by a team at the JR showed contact between patients only accounted for a minority of infections by the bacterium clostridium difficile (C diff).

Prof Tim Peto said three-quarters of infections did not appear to have been passed between patients.

He said: “A better understanding of other routes of transmission is needed to determine what other types of control interventions are required to reduce the spread of C diff.”