A former mayor of Tenby is calling for more action to be taken to prevent the spread of the superbug MRSA.

Denzil Griffiths is convinced MRSA was the underlying cause of his wife's death last year. She died during an operation to remove a hip replacement at the Heath Hospital, Cardiff.

It is thought that the 65 year-old former mayoress may have contracted the antibiotic-resistant bacterium when the joint was first replaced in 1984. Mr Griffiths said action must be taken to tackle the spread of MRSA. "People don't know when they go into hospital whether they are signing their own warrant for death,'' he said.

Worrying new evidence has emerged suggesting patients are at risk of contracting the superbug when they are admitted to hospital.

Nationally, there is at least one MRSA infection in every 1,000 admissions to hospital. Last year, the bacterium - methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus - resulted in a number of MRSA patients having to be nursed in isolation at Withybush Hospital. Every week of the year there is likely to be what the hospital terms as a 'barrier' patient being nursed there.

Director of medical services, Dr Peter Jackson, reports that over-reliance on antibiotics to clear up minor illness such as sore throats is at the root of the problem. Although there have been no deaths directly attributable to MRSA at Withybush Hospital in the last two years, two seriously ill patients who eventually died from other causes were infected with MRSA.

Dr Jackson would like to see stricter controls on antibiotic use. "We are seeing a rise in superbugs because antibiotics in general are being used much more freely in the community. "Bacteria that can develop resistance are getting more common and this creates a real problem when a patient gets a serious infection.''

Patients, he said, should only take antibiotics when they have a bacterial infection. It is also imperative that the course is taken as prescribed by their doctor. l Denzil Griffiths and his family suffered a series of tragedies. While his wife was in hospital, Mr Griffiths and his son escaped from a blaze which gutted his house. He also lost a daughter Sharron to cancer and his other daughter Rachel escaped with injuries from the Bali Nightclub bomb blast.

The Pembrokeshire Local Health Board was swift to praise Withybush Hospital for the steps it was taking to control MRSA. "As far as the Local Health Board is aware there are no significant problems of MRSA infection in Withybush Hospital, or indeed in Pembrokeshire in general, but we are confident that the Trust (Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust) has in place systems and processes that are necessary to manage such matters,'' said a spokesman