Despite the deaths occurring over a period of more than two months, none of the fatalities were announced by the health authority and, just last month, NHS Tayside moved to quell fears over the extent of C.diff cases at Ninewells.

The deceased were among eight elderly patients in all who were found to have the infection, seven of whom had the more serious 027 strain of the bug, NHS Tayside confirmed today.

Two of the deaths were said to be specifically due to the C.diff infection and in three cases it was a factor but not the main cause.

A statement from NHS Tayside said, “NHS Tayside infection control team has been managing an outbreak of Clostridium difficile infection in patients in ward 31 at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.

“NHS Tayside undertakes regular testing of patients in order to detect cases of C.diff.

“This, along with our robust surveillance systems, ensures any outbreak of infection is detected early and there is a rapid response from the infection control team.”

Dr Gabby Phillips, lead infection control doctor for Ninewells Hospital added, “In line with our infection control procedures and, as a precautionary measure, we closed the ward to new admissions while we were managing the infection and the ward remains closed.

“We have comprehensive infection monitoring procedures throughout our hospitals and these are able to rapidly identify any emerging trends of infection which then trigger a rapid response from our infection control teams.

“These cases of C.diff infection were detected very early which meant we were then able to identify the 027 strain rapidly and reinforce all appropriate infection control measures.

“There have been no new cases identified in the ward for 10 days. I am confident all appropriate procedures to deal with this infection were put in place immediately.

“Since the beginning of this outbreak we have sought external advice regarding our policies and procedures and we are reassured that our surveillance systems are robust.”

Just a month ago NHS Tayside moved to quell fears over superbug infection rates despite the fact at least one patient had already died from a new C.diff outbreak at Ninewells.

On October 8, the health authority’s lead infection control clinician, Dr Gabby Phillips, told the Tele the overall trend in infection rates in NHS Tayside was downward, although official figures showed a spike in cases between April and June this year.

Nothing was said by Dr Phillips about the current situation where at least one patient would have already died as it was well within the tenweek period the authority announced today.

The Health Protection Scotland figures showed that medics had dealt with a total of 162 patients in the threemonth period, including an outbreak involving nine people.

The majority of those who took ill — 128 people — were aged 65 or over, but there were a further 34 cases in the 2564 age group.

The over65 figure represented a drop of 17 cases on the same period in 2008 — a trend that was picked up on by Dr Phillips.

Dr Phillips said, “Although we have seen an increase in the rates of C.diff infection in the second quarter of the year, there has actually been a downward trend in the numbers of cases since January 2008 and our rates have decreased compared to the same quarter last year.

“We do have robust surveillance systems in place which are triggered when there is any indication of a rise in the number of infections.”

She added, “Antibiotic usage is an important factor in C.diff infection so there is a strict antibiotic prescribing policy for hospital doctors which restricts the use of some antibiotics.

“The new prescribing policy has also been distributed to GPs so we can also try to limit the infection out in our communities.”

At the same time, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said she was pleased to see infection control measures being adopted across Scotland were “reaping rewards”.

However, she warned there was “no room for complacency” and called for the “excellent progress” which had been made to continue.

The Scottish Government has committed £50 million over three years to combat superbugs and aims to reduce C. difficile and other infection rates by at least 30% by 2011.

Four elderly people remained in the ward today and have been cared for there since it was closed to new admissions eight weeks ago.

The remaining patients are believed to have tested negative for C. diff but require ongoing care.

It is understood an outbreak was declared eight weeks ago and the ward closed then to new admissions.

However, the health authority did not make public that decision.

Last week Dr Phillips addressed members of the board of NHS Tayside, holding their regular business meeting in public.

She presented her annual report on infection control but did not specifically talk about the C. diff deaths at Ninewells and that information was not discussed during the public debate on infection.

It was not clear today why the health authority has now chosen to go public, though a spokeswoman was adamant the health authority was not secretive over the information.

“We have not kept it secret,” she said.

“It would have been inappropriate to have gone public with this while these patients were very, very ill and we were dealing with the outbreak.”