SHOCKING new figures out today reveal that 80 people a day in the north west are contracting a sexually transmitted infection.

After new research unveiled last week revealed that HIV levels have soared by 70 per cent from 2001-2003 in Greater Manchester, a new study shows that other sexually transmitted infections are also rising.

In Greater Manchester alone, 12,809 people needed treatment for a sexually transmitted infection, including syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia last year.

Figures released today at a north west Sexual Health Conference have stunned health bosses who say the situation is at crisis point.

Matthew Ashton, public health intelligence specialist for the North West Health Protection Agency, said: "These figures are shocking - especially in Greater Manchester where there is a real problem.

"After consistent increases in sexually transmitted infections over the past eight years, we need to work hard to change sexual behaviour. Safe sex messages need to be at the forefront of everyone's mind so that anyone contemplating sex will have condoms available."

Greater Manchester has seen the biggest leap in sexually transmitted infections in the north west and experts are particularly concerned about an outbreak of syphilis - a rare ulcer that can be deadly - which has risen from seven cases to 130 a year in the last five years.

Chlamydia - a common bacterial infection which is difficult to detect but can cause fertility problems - is also on the up and there has been a 20 per cent increase in the numbers being infected in Greater Manchester from 2002-3.

Gonorrhoea, an infection which can also cause serious health problems, has doubled in the north west since 1995 and the disease has gone up by 21 per cent in the Greater Manchester gay community between 2002-3.

The alarming leap in sexually transmitted infections comes a week after it emerged that 1,703 people are now living with HIV in Greater Manchester, which accounts for more than half of the HIV positive population in the north west.

Health Protection Agency north west director Qutub Syed says that the figures are just the tip of the iceberg as many people are still unaware that they are carrying these infections. He said: "These figures are a wake up call for a generation. We need to shake young people out of their complacency about sexual health and remind them that sexually transmitted diseases are very serious.

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