Hospital superbug leaves top sportsman crippled

A top young sportsman has been left crippled after being struck by hospital superbug MRSA.

James Wollacott, 20, faces the onset of arthritis in both his legs after a routine knee operation at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington.

The virus, which thrives in unhygienic conditions, attached itself to titanium pins fitted during the reconstruction of his kneecap.

The trainee electrician, from Hornchurch, had been selected for international roller hockey trials.

He said: "My future has been ruined and I've lost a whole year of my life. I can't walk more than a few hundred yards unaided. I may never play sport again and I'm having to rethink my career. It's a disgrace that my life has been wrecked by skimping on the cost of hospital cleaners and the auxiliaries."

Mr Wollacott's mother, Ruth, said: "Normal standards of hygiene don't seem to apply in a hospital."

He now faces a third operation on his right knee. For the first two, surgeons used ligament from his good left leg, but now a donor graft is needed. Superbugs cannot be treated by antibiotics. Despite a massive campaign to tackle poor hygiene in hospitals, deaths from MRSA soared from 51 in 1993 to 800 in 2002.

Last year there were more than 7,300 recorded adult cases, including a 5.2 per cent increase in London.

All hospitals now have infection control officers and provide antibacterial handwashes for staff.

A spokesman for St Mary's said last night: "We do our best to minimise risk by enforcing strict cleaning regimes."