MPs today backed warnings from Brighton and Hove health chiefs that cases of sexually transmitted diseases are spiralling out of control.

Brighton GUM/HIV clinic told the Health Select Committee huge increases in the diseases had led to cramped conditions at its premises.

In written evidence, the clinic said diagnosis of syphilis rocketed by 107 per cent between 1999 and 2001, from 14 to 29 cases.

Cases of gonorrhoea soared by 179 per cent from 150 to 419.

And new diagnoses of HIV infection are also increasingly sharply. Last year 156 new cases were expected to be confirmed - 13 patients a month.

This compares to 101, or 8.4 patients a month, in 1999 - a rise of 54 per cent. The number of HIV tests being carried out has increased from 1,606 tests in 1999 to 2,830.

The committee, which published the clinic's evidence today, warned the country is poised on the brink of an "appalling" crisis in sexual health.

MPs said long-term under-funding has left NHS sexual health clinics unable to cope with demand.

Ignorance of the dangers of unprotected sex is most alarming among young people, especially men, the committee said.

One in ten sexually active young women in England is infected with chlamydia, syphilis rates have increased by 500 per cent in the last six years and gonorrhoea rates have doubled, the MPs said. With clinics turning "hundreds" of people away each week, the report calls for a target of 48 hours for potentially infected patients to access genito-urinary medicine (GUM) services.

The Government must urgently review staffing and introduce national chlamydia screening immediately.

The report said: "Sexual health services are not meeting the needs of young people and they are being failed by an education system which persistently delivers too little, too late."

It recommended sex and relationships are a compulsory part of the National Curriculum.

David Hinchliffe, chairman of the committee, said: "Changing people's attitude to sex cannot happen overnight.

"But it is vital we commit ourselves to prioritising sexual health and improving the way in which we educate young people, especially young men, about relationships and sex if we are going to prevent an even worse situation being passed on to the next generation of young people."

The committee concluded it was "appalled" by the current crisis in sexual health - a view widely shared by health professionals.

Head of Science and Ethics at the British Medical Association, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, backed the call for more resources for prevention and treatment.

She said the BMA was "shocked" by the soaring rates and claimed the country was on the "brink of a sexual health crisis".