There were still hospital staff who did not wash their hands often enough and a culture change was necessary because they risked spreading infections among patients, health authorities warned.

But despite less than ideal hand-washing, the new hospital managed to reduce the rates of the superbug MRSA.

"We have seen a substantial reduction of MRSA," Michael Borg, a consultant at the hospital's infection control unit, said.

Speaking at a press conference to raise awareness about the importance that nurses and doctors wash their hands, Dr Borg said some units were managing to go for months without facing any serious cases of the bug.

"That is very encouraging," he said.

Last March, a woman and her husband sued the healthcare services for damages, claiming she had contracted MRSA while undergoing treatment at St Luke's Hospital two years ago and had suffered a permanent disability as a result.

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.

Dr Borg said despite the encouraging improvements, observations carried out in Mater Dei Hospital a month ago showed nurses and doctors only washed their hands 30 per cent of the time.

Although this was twice the compliance rate at St Luke's Hospital, it was still far from desirable, he said.

"If doctors and nurses are not careful to wash their hands, they run the risk of getting ill themselves and infecting their families," he said.

Dr Borg said a culture change was necessary, adding that it was not the first time people were seen using a public bathroom and leaving without washing their hands.

"Patients or their relatives will not be doing anything wrong if they ask doctors and nurses whether they have washed their hands," he said.

Dr Borg had already made this call last October, and while he has seen some improvement, things were still far from perfect.

"Hands might seem clean but they could be carrying a lot of microscopic germs and infections," Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Department director Charmaine Gauci said.

She pointed out that the best way to ward off infections was to keep hands clean, adding this did not apply solely to doctors but also to the public, especially as the world was bracing itself for an influenza pandemic.

Although there have been no suspected or confirmed cases of swine influenza in Malta, hundreds of people have called the helpline to enquire about the pandemic.

Moreover, anyone who visited Mexico, the US, Canada, Germany, Britain and Spain in the past 10 days should report any influenza symptoms, Dr Gauci said.

She appealed to people not to use antivirals unnecessarily since injudicious use could make the virus resistant to the drugs, the first line of defence during a pandemic.

Wash your hands, keep the flu at bay

As the world creeps closer to an influenza pandemic, keeping hands clean is imperative.

Dr Gauci said people should wash their hands regularly with soap and water, making sure to clean between their fingers and underneath their nails.

It is also a good idea to keep alcohol-based wipes or a small bottle of hand rub handy just in case.

And since coughs and sneezes spread diseases, people should be careful to sneeze or cough into a tissue and throw it away immediately.