"We are developing a standard sampling regime to take swabs from sinks, taps, floors and other surfaces like computer keyboards, and use these to identify accurately which superbug genes -- such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -- are present in an intensive care unit," Gemma Kay of Sheffield Hallam University in South Yorkshire.

"Critically ill patients in the intensive care unit are particularly at risk from hospital acquired infections."

The university research team has been working with clinical collaborators at the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust.

"Our technique allows us to characterize the genes from micro-organisms using a gene amplification technique called polymerase chain reaction. This lets us expand tiny samples enough to identify individual strains of bacteria, and to spot particular antibiotic resistance genes," Kay said.

The findings were reported at the 162nd meeting of the Society for General Microbiology in in Edinburgh, Scotland.