It seems we have a bacterial infection, MRSA, galloping out of control in our hospitals ('Superbug is endemic in hospitals, says doctor', August 2).

Yet there seems to be no sense of urgency to stamp the problem out in Britain.

Foot-and-mouth, a disease affecting livestock, seems to be more important to us.

The stark fact in all this is that MRSA can be defeated by the simplest of measures: namely by everyone in contact with patients with the bug washing their hands.

The defeatism and evasion displayed by Royal Free consultant Dr Kibbler's remarks that MRSA is 'endemic' and that it may not have caused Jill Crouch's death mean only one thing to me: that sooner rather than later the NHS is going to be facing a massive legal bill for compensating victims it has infected with MRSA.

Simha Hajioff

Granville Place, High Road

North Finchley