A woman and her husband sued the health care services for damages, claiming that she contracted a virus while undergoing treatment at St Luke's Hospital two years ago.

The couple, Carmela and Abdelkrim Bouharis, said that when she was undergoing treatment at St Luke's in September 2007, she had contracted the MRSA virus (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureusvirus), an infection caused by a group of bacteria.

Dubbed the superbug, MRSA is a type of bacteria commonly found on the skin and in the noses of healthy people. Although it is usually harmless at these sites, it may occasionally get into the body, through breaks in the skin such as abrasions, cuts, wounds, surgical incisions or indwelling catheters, and cause infection.

Hospital patients, as a result of their sometimes weakened immune systems, are particularly vulnerable to these resistant strains.

The couple claimed that she had contracted the virus due to the hospital's negligence and that as a result of the infection she had suffered a permanent disability.

Mr and Mrs Bouharis asked the First Hall of the Civil Court to order the director general of health care services to make good for the damages they had sustained.

Lawyers Josè Herrera and David Camilleri acted for the couple.