The new drug will be used to fight MRSA

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has recommended the antibiotic Tygacil to treat hospital infections.

The drug was approved for use by the European Commission in April, but will not yet be available in England.

Professor Dilip Nathwani, consultant physician at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, said the drug would help to fight hospital infections.

MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, but is shorthand for any strain of Staphylococcus bacteria which is resistant to one or more conventional antibiotics.

Trials of the drug Tygacil have shown its ability to combat certain infection strains that have become resistant to medicines, including MRSA and the E.coli bug.

The antibiotic, also known as tigecycline, has been approved for restricted use in Scotland to treat complicated internal infections as well as those affecting skin and soft tissue.

There are about 45,000 cases per year of hospital-acquired infections in Scotland, while across the UK an estimated 5,000 people a year die after contracting MRSA.