An outbreak of the killer bug MRSA was discovered in the special care baby unit at Watford General Hospital.
Five babies were found to have the bug on their skin but did not actually contract any illness.
MRSA was discovered during routine swab testing and the babies' skin was treated to eradicate the bug.
The incident took place in November and Decem
ber in 2007 and the babies' families were kept informed.
An investigation was carried out and a member of staff was found to have been the first person to carry the bug.
A spokeswoman for West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust said: "We cannot confirm the member of staff was the source because it was a community strain of MRSA."
The worker was treated, screened and cleared of the bug.
"No babies were clinically infected or had any symptoms of infection," the spokeswoman added.
"As a matter of routine surveillance, screening for MRSA is carried out in the ward and identified these cases.
"We immediately put in place our infection control measures and treated the babies concerned successfully with the appropriate skin treatment to eliminate the bug.
"The trust takes infection control extremely seriously and staff work tirelessly to reduce the cases of infection in the trust."
The incident is included in the trust's infection control annual report for 2007/8, which shows the number of infections has dropped.
From April to July in 2008 the trust had seven cases of MRSA compared to 15 in the same months of 2007.
Over the same time periods there were 26 cases of clostridium difficile compared to 212.
A number of measures have been introduced including isolation wards, a clampdown on handwashing, screening, and a cut in the use of antibiotics.
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