Five newborn babies on an intensive care ward have been isolated after the MRSA bug was found on their skin.

Another seven babies in the unit who were unaffected by the outbreak were immediately moved to temporary accommodation at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley to prevent the bug from spreading.

The five affected infants are being looked after in isolation in the hospital's special care baby unit. None has been infected by the bug but they have colonised MRSA, which means the bacteria has simply lodged on their skin. Most people with colonised MRSA experience no symptoms and require no treatment.

Doctors said none of the affected babies is giving any cause for concern but the seven others were moved from the ward as a precaution.

Tom Walsh, infection control manager for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: "It is not unusual during routine screening to identify patients with MRSA on their skin as it is relatively common in the wider community.

"Normally this does not cause any problems. However, staff will continue to closely monitor the condition of these babies until they are discharged."

Infection control specialists are not yet in a position to say how the bug was brought on to the ward. MRSA is usually spread by skin contact and thorough and regular hand-washing by hospital staff between treating different patients is the most effective way of halting the spread of the bug, which is resistant to commonly used antibiotics.

The only people allowed to touch babies in the neonatal intensive care unit are their parents and doctors and nurses. Parents are allowed to touch only their own babies.

The intensive care unit and specialist baby care unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital are currently undergoing significant refurbishments and, as a result, temporary accommodation for high-dependency patients had already been created and was on standby.

It was not being used until yesterday, when hospital officials decided to move the seven unaffected babies.

A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said she was not immediately aware of any other current cases of MRSA in the hospital.

She added: "The five colonised babies have been isolated and are being looked after in appropriate accommodation in the current specialist baby care unit, in accordance with relevant infection control procedures. All other patients are being treated in the temporary specialist baby care unit facility."

MRSA accounts for one in six hospital-acquired infections in Scotland.

Rigorous hand-washing regimes are the best way to control the spread of the bug. However, earlier this year it was revealed that hospital staff had yet to meet a hand-washing target and compliance with standards varied across Scotland.

Checks in April found 87% adherence to good hand hygiene practices on wards nationwide. However, compliance ranged from as low as 75% in Lanarkshire to 97% in Ayrshire and Forth Valley.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde reported 83% compliance.

Nicola Sturgeon, the Health Secretary, has promised to invest £54m over the next three years to support measures such as screening patients for MRSA before they are admitted to beds.