The youngest victim of Brighton's last major smallpox outbreak is still pitted with scars half a century later.

Stewart Mellon had just reached his first birthday when he was given two hours to live as one of 30 smallpox victims in 1950 and 1951.

The epidemic was one of the last outbreaks of smallpox in Britain and the disease has been effectively eradicated, though mass vaccinations have been suggested recently amid fears terrorists could use the virus as a biological weapon.

Mr Mellon, now 54, has been taunted about the scars on his face but says he is lucky to be alive.

Rats on a ship from India which docked at Brighton were blamed for the outbreak in December 1950.

There were 30 cases recorded and ten deaths. A total of 85,918 people were vaccinated.

Patients were treated at Bevendean Hospital, which had been built in the 1880s to deal with a previous smallpox outbreak.

Mr Mellon was being treated at the hospital for chickenpox when he contracted smallpox and remained there for six months.

His family was living with his aunt, Mary Mulholland, at her home near Race Hill, Brighton. When he was taken ill his parents, John and Joan Mellon, were away in London.

Mr Mellon, who now lives in Surrey, does not remember being ill but was told stories by his late parents and wants to get in touch with anyone who has fresh information.

He said: "All my toys and clothes had to be burnt. On my first day out of hospital my mother took me out to buy clothes but people wouldn't let her in their shops with me.

"She had a pretty rough time of it. People would shout out terrible kinds of abuse when they saw me."

Mr Mellon's family was advised to wait until he was 12 before taking him to see renowned plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe to seek skin treatment. However, Sir Archibald died a year before the planned visit.

Mr Mellon said: "I used to be called 'Fishface' at school. The skin on my body stretched enough for the marks not to show.

"I have always been pockmarked but it has never really bothered me. I'm just thankful I survived and was so young I didn't know what was happening to me. The hospital gave me two hours to live at first. There wasn't a great deal they could do."

Mr Mellon is the third of his parents' ten children. His sister Eileen Slade, 13 months his senior, said: "I remember him being in hospital and having scars all over his face and other kids taunting him."

Anyone with information or newspaper cuttings related to the 1950-51 outbreak can email Mrs Slade at ealexander@edals1967.fsnet.co.uk