A woman whose cousin died after contracting a killer virus in hospital is among 600 patients at risk from a scare gripping Sussex.

Families were yesterday put on alert when it emerged a health worker at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton had been carrying the potentially lethal hepatitis C virus for three years.

Jennifer John's cousin Ernest Haward died in 1991 aged 71 after being infected by a surgeon with hepatitis B.

Mrs John, 50, was horrified when she received the warning letter from the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust asking her to take an emergency blood test.

She said: "It's 12 years ago almost to the week that Ernest died and we are all appalled measures are still not in place to stop it happening again.

"We were assured when Ernest died medical staff would be properly vetted to stop more infections but clearly that hasn't been happening.

"Years have gone by but it feels like we are still in the same boat."

The trust said the risk of infection from the latest case was minimal and the blood screening sessions, which start tomorrow, were being run only as a precaution.

The surgeon who infected Mr Haward at Guy's Hospital in London was jailed for a year after it was revealed he operated on 19 patients while knowingly carrying the virus.

In this case the carrier, who has not been identified, was unknowingly carrying the virus until it was revealed by a routine blood test.

The worker, who had previously worked at the Sussex Nuffield Hospital and is now based in the trauma and orthopaedics department at the Royal Sussex, immediately reported the condition.

Wheelchair-bound Mrs John, of Meeching Rise, Newhaven, was treated for blood poisoning at the hospital from September last year to January.

The trust said last night it had done everything possible to limit risks.

Spokesman Ian Keeber said: "I would advise Mrs John to contact our helpline and arrange a blood test. It is a terrible coincidence her cousin died from the virus.

"We are very distressed at having to send out letters causing patients anguish. But we cannot ignore what has happened and must act upon it."