SEXUAL infections in Bolton have risen sharply - despite warnings to young people.

Rates of chlamydia, which can make women infertile, have shot up 14 per cent in 12 months at the Royal Bolton Hospital. During 2003, 698 women were treated for the infection, compared to just 201 in 1995.

Cases of herpes rose by 15 per cent from 89 to 102.

Incidences of sexually transmitted infections were highest among 16 to 19-year-old women and men aged 20 to 24.

The figures have been released just a week after it was announced there were 725 new cases of HIV and Aids in the North-west in 2003 - an 18 per cent increase on the previous year, and the largest rise since monitoring began in 1996.

Health bosses say 80 people a day in the North-west are finding out they have a sexually transmitted infection.

Qutub Syed, director of the Health Protection Agency in the North-west, said: "These figures are a wake-up call for a generation. We need to shake young people out of their complacency about sexual health.

"HIV is not just something that happened in the 1980s. It is growing problem now. Gonorrhoea, chlamydia and syphilis are also serious hazards, and all can be avoided by practising safer sex. That is the message we must keep hammering home."