TWO Gwent families told today how a hospital superbug had torn their lives apart.

Newport toddler Nikitta Davies was left disabled after contracting MRSA when she was just three.

And Brian Rysdale, 74, of Newport, also fell victim to the bug and had to have a leg amputated.

Both families are calling for more information to be made available about MRSA, a bacteria resistant to one or more antibiotics.

Mother Lorna Smith, 33, of Bryn Bevan, Newport, said Nikitta had five emergency blood transfusions and three major operations to fight off the infection, which she claims was contracted after a routine hip operation at the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport.

Doctors told Ms Smith they could not guarantee Nikitta would live. Today, five-year-old Nikitta's right leg is shorter than her left and she suffers crippling hip pains.

It is believed Nikitta is one of the youngest people in the UK to contract the so-called superbug.

Dr Neil Carbarns, Gwent NHS Trust's leading infection expert, said: "This is a very outstanding occurrence and I have never heard of anyone younger than that having such a serious MRSA infection."

Wife Maureen now cares for her husband 24 hours a day and says the infection has taken away their future. The health authority recently banned flowers from some hospital wards to reduce infection. The hospital is looking into both cases.