A WOMAN has spoken of her regret that she was not there to hold her grandson's hand as he lay dying from a rare bacteria linked to the hospital superbug MRSA.

Edwina Fooks was speaking out on Tuesday as news of the community-based MRSA-linked toxin hit the headlines.

As the Daily Echo reported on Monday, Richard Campbell-Smith, 18, scratched his legs while training and died within days after becoming infected by the toxin, Panton Valentine leukocidin (PVL).

A medical expert at his inquest in Exeter revealed the disease was thought to have died out in the 1950s - but she had seen two cases in nine weeks, and wanted to alert the public and medics. Now doctors have been issued with urgent advice about the "extremely rare" mutant bacteria.

The emergence of the virulent toxin has alarmed medical experts because it is so hard to treat and is lethal if not detected quickly.

Because it multiplies so fast - one bug will turn into 17 million within 24 hours - quick diagnosis is vital to a patient's chance of survival.

Speaking from her Throop Road home, Edwina said: "I am very glad about the fact doctors are being made aware of this. I didn't want to do all this publicity but I am doing it for Richard. If this allows someone to get the treatment they need in time then it does the trick.

"At the time Richard was taken ill the doctors were in complete disbelief it was happening. He was very cold. They kept giving him extra blankets but I don't think it did any good because I think by that time the bacteria had gone right into his body and there was no way they could stop it."

She added: "The one thing I wish is that I was with him holding his hand when he died, but it all happened too quickly."

Speaking of the rare infection, Edwina added: "Unfortunately it's come back. I think it's something that's got to be looked into. It's very similar to the MRSA debate which is prevalent in hospitals at the moment. I feel this one is going to become almost as bad unless people diagnose it in the early stages."

A spokeswoman for the Health Protection Agency said: "We are aware of strains of staphylococcus aureus with PVL, but it is extremely rare in the UK. There is a surveillance scheme for this, but when we have staphylococcus aureus samples in our laboratory we test a proportion of them for PVL. We have issued advice for clinicians so that if they suspect patients that may have this infection, they can send us the patient's sample for us to test in the laboratory."

Richard, a former pupil of Winton and St Peter's schools, was four weeks from the end of his 32-week course at the Commando Training Centre in Lympstone, Devon, when he died on November 2 last year.

Coroner Dr Elizabeth Earlan recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Rare mutation of MRSA caused death

THE highly virulent strain of methycillin-resistant

staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) responsible for the death of Richard Campbell-Smith is a rare genetic mutation of the hospital superbug found away from medical settings.

Cases of Panton-Valentine leukocidin are the most serious manifestations of community-acquired MRSA, known as C-MRSA - when infection occurs in a previously healthy individual who has no recognised risk factors associated with the superbug.

Some of the strains carry the toxin Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), which attacks white blood cells, leaving the sufferer unable to fight infection.

Cases of C-MRSA carrying the toxin remain rare in the UK and are notably less sensitive to antibiotic treatment than normal C-MRSA, which tends to be easier to treat than the hospital version of the superbug.

Investigations in countries that have seen this type of MRSA describe infections in prison inmates, those involved in close contact sport, the gay community, and injecting drug users.

Before the case of Richard, only one person, a woman aged 28 with community-acquired pneumonia, was known to have been associated with PVL-positive C-MRSA.

First published: May 25