REPORTED cases of a 'superbug' have been on the increase in the the town.

There have been 34 reported cases of bacterial infection Clostridium Difficile, otherwise known as C. diff, at the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust (FT) between April and January.

It takes the town high above the national target set at 19 cases per trust each year.

Furthermore, health bosses revealed that Bolton FT has launched an external investigation into how the infection is control after it was found that there were delays in diagnosis and isolation in two of the four cases reported in January.

The Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group board members raised concerns over the increases at its most recent meeting.

Clinical director of guidance and safety, GP Colin Mercer, said the trust was disappointed by the increase of reported infections after it had worked hard to control the spread of superbug cases.

He added: "It has been one of our success stories but it has started to get worse again.

"The trust is very exercised by this and is doing everything it can about lapses or care.

"It is a subject very close to their heart and ours. They have not taken their eye off the ball and will be monitoring the situation very closely over the next year and hope that provides reassurance."

Dr Mercer added that the infection control process would also be reviewed in primary care and rates would be improved by reducing the number of elderly patients in hospital — one of the groups most vulnerable to C. diff.

C. diff, is a bacterium that can infect the bowel and most commonly affects people who have recently been treated with antibiotics.

Its resistance to antibiotics puts it into the superbug category.

The highest number of reported cases in Bolton were in August with five and October with eight cases found.

While the infection can easily spread to others, in all cases to date the trust there was no evidence of cross-transmission.

David Herne, director of public health, added that an increasing reliance and use of antibiotics would lead to an 'inevitable' increase in superbug infections.