A new superbug resistant to antibiotics has been found in an English hospital, the government's public health laboratory service announced last night.

The arrival of another superbug - called a Gisa, a glycopeptide-intermediate staphylococcus aureus - will raise concerns about the ability of doctors to treat fragile patients and reinforce demands for better hygiene in hospitals.

The identities of the hospital and patient, who subsequently died but not from infection, are being kept secret. The only other cases of Gisa known in Britain occurred in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in Scotland three years ago.

The patient in England was found to be infected with a new type of antibiotic-resistant strain of MRSA, methillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, a bug that has now been found in virtually every district hospital in Britain. MRSA is often treated with vancomycin. But this patient had a form of the bacterium that was resistant and had to be treated with other drugs.

· Spot checks in some English districts suggest many more parents opted not to have their children vaccinated around the scheduled time of 12 months old as a row blew up over the safety of the MMR jab. Uptake for children at 16 months fell from 76% in December 2001 to 70% in March before rising to 72% last month.

The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and Clarifications column, Monday May 20 2002

We said MRSA stood for methillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. That was wrong. It is methicillin-resistant, etc.