A petition has been handed to MSPs calling for a public inquiry into a Clostridium difficile outbreak that was linked to 18 hospital deaths.
Relatives of patients who died at the Vale of Leven Hospital claimed that the infection was "out of control".
Police are now investigating the C.diff-related deaths.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said she had not ruled out a public inquiry and added she would meet with families on Tuesday to update them.
Michelle Stewart, whose mother-in-law Sarah McGinty was one of the victims, was joined at the launch of the petition by Sheila Chandler, whose father Alister Johnston, 66, also died.
Ms Stewart said: "The main reason why we came here is because of the public support we've had.
"People stopping us in the street and saying they are terrified of going into hospital - this is happening, that's happening - the fear."
Ms Stewart said the NHS in Scotland had failed to get on top of handling C.diff.
She added: "We've always said that we don't blame individuals for what happened at the Vale of Leven - we blame the fact that the system has failed.
"We've always said that we don't blame individuals for what happened at the Vale of Leven - we blame the fact that the system has failed"
"If they can fail at the Vale of Leven, they can fail anywhere."
Mr Chandler admitted that it was unlikely that C.diff would be eradicated completely from hospitals but said the aim should be to stop it spreading.
He said: "It's just out of control. When somebody catches this, there's no reason why the person in the next bed or next ward can catch it.
"We've got to stop people passing it on and we've got to have strict controls, infection controls, that are supposed to work and don't work.
"That's why our families have died."
Independent review
The families handed over their petition at the Scottish Parliament to Frank McAveety, convener of Holyrood's Petition Committee.
An independent review into the outbreak at the Vale of Leven was carried out this summer.
Ms Sturgeon later referred the matter to Scotland's top law officer, Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini.
Strathclyde Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have launched parallel investigations and aim to report to the procurator fiscal by March 2009.
Ms Sturgeon said on Monday: "I have asked the Law Officers to investigate the points raised in the Independent Review, and that the Area Procurator Fiscal and the police are allowed due process to assess if criminal investigations are appropriate in the first instance.
"Those inquiries are under way, and information on the scale of the police and Health & Safety Executive investigations is already in the public domain."
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