Cases of a deadly superbug among hospital patients rose dramatically last year.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals' Trust recorded 104 more cases of Clostridium difficile in 2005 than the pre vious year.

The trust, which runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, had 472 cases of the diarrhoea-causing infection on its wards last year, compared with 368 cases in 2004.

The trust, which had one of the highest rates of the less common infection MRSA in England in 2005 and 2006, also had a 28 per cent increase in C.

difficile cases among patients aged 65 or over. Elderly patients account for 80 per cent of cases.

Across the county, 1,603 cases were recorded in 2005, compared with 1,486 in 2004.

The bug is usually spread on the hands of healthcare staff and people who have contact with infected patients.

The bacterium, which lives in the gut, multiplies rapidly when doses of antibiotics disturb the natural balance of germs in the body, causing severe complications for elderly people and patients already suffering from serious illness.

On August 26 last year a spokesman for the trust told The Argus: "The trust has a series of measures in place to tackle the infection."

No comment was available from the trust yesterday to explain the continuing rise of C.

difficile cases through 2005.