Engineers from the University of Leeds are to conduct a three-year study into the effect on hospital hygiene of using an ioniser.

The research, to be funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, will build on the success of a similar project by researchers at the St James's University hospital, which found that the use of such equipment in intensive care units prevented infections caused by the acinetobacter pathogen.

The new project will involve the same team and will examine how this finding can be used in future, as well as the biological and physical processes associated with negative air ionisation.

It is estimated that as many as 10 per cent of patients contract infections during their stay in hospitals, of which a fifth are believed to have been transmitted by an airbourne route ? although the most common hospital acquired infection, MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), is transmitted through touch. The bug is spread by poor hygiene ? such as doctors not washing their hands between patient consultations.

The problem of hospital-acquired infection is estimated to cost £100-200million in England alone, and can have devastating results on patient health.

"Negative air ionisation could have a dramatic impact on a problem that has been attracting increasing publicity and causing growing concern," said project leader Dr Clive Beggs of the University of Leeds' Aerobiological Research Group.