More than 1,000 cases of a deadly new superbug have been discovered at Sussex hospitals in the past year.

All the county's hospital trusts have revealed they saw hundreds of infections in 2004 of Clostridium difficile, which has killed at least 26 people in Britain this year.

East Sussex Hospitals reported 393 cases of the diarrhoea-causing infection among patients over 65.

Royal West Sussex Hospitals disclosed 270 cases and Worthing and Southlands reported 135 as part of the first official audit of C. difficile.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals reported 368 cases to the Department of Health.

A spokesman for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust said: "While this figure does not indicate a large problem in comparison to other NHS hospitals, the trust has a series of measures in place to tackle the infection."

The bug gained notoriety earlier this year when it emerged it had killed 12 patients at Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire, 13 at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and one at Oldchurch Hospital in Romford, Essex.

Cases of the infection across the UK have risen from about 1,000 in the early Nineties to more than 20,000 by 2000.

The figures, released for the first time by the Department of Health as part of its mandatory surveillance scheme for C. difficile-associated diarrhoea, prompted calls for better cleanliness in hospitals.

Karen Jennings, head of health at union Unison, said: "It's not rocket science - the way to wipe out these bugs is to have cleaner hospitals and if you want cleaner hospitals you must have more cleaners.

"Yet contracting out has led to a drastic cut in the number of hospital cleaners. It's time to put that right - employ more cleaners, give them training and decent equipment and let them get on with the job."

The bug, first discovered in 1978, is a bacterium present in the stomachs of up to three per cent of healthy adults.

It causes illness when certain antibiotics disturb the normal bacteria in the gut, causing diarrhoea and severe inflammation of the bowel, which can be life-threatening.

The Health Protection Agency said older people were particularly vulnerable.

The infection can spread from person to person and spores can survive for a long time.

It is also difficult to eradicate by handwashing, meaning it can spread easily from health workers who have contact with infected patients or contaminated surfaces.

Chief Nursing Officer Christine Beasley said: "Clostridium difficile diarrhoea occurs in patients who have received broad spectrum antibiotics, particularly the elderly and debilitated, but most patients make a full recovery.

"We have seen a rise in cases over the past decade, some due to better reporting but much of which is due to the increased number of patients with serious underlying illness who need antibiotics."

Ms Beasley said mandatory surveillance had been extended to C. difficile to enable the NHS to establish the scale of the problem in a bid to improve infection control.

She added: "We have issued guidance on dealing with outbreaks, with advice on antibiotic policies and isolating patients."