The number of new cases of people with HIV in the UK has risen by 25% over the last year, according to latest figures.

A sharp rise in the number of other sexually transmitted diseases has raised fears that many young people are ignoring safe sex messages.

The Government is responding by launching a controversial new £4 million campaign using lottery-themed adverts warning young adults about the risk of sexually transmitted infections The figures suggest about 41,000 people in the UK now have HIV and more people have been infected this year than in any period since records began.

Figures for Brighton and Hove show an alarming increase in some sexually transmitted diseases which has led to cramped conditions at the specialist Claude Nicol clinic at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

A House of Commons committee has been told diagnosis of syphilis rocketed in the city by 107 per cent between 1999 and 2001, from 14 cases to 29.

Cases of gonorrhea soared by 179 per cent from 150 to 419, according to Graham Taylor, lead commissioner for sexual health and HIV care at the city's Primary Care Trust (PCT).

New diagnoses of HIV infection are also increasing sharply.

In written evidence to the Health Select Committee, Mr Taylor said 156 new cases were expected to be confirmed this year.

This compares to 101, or 8.4 patients per month, in 1999 - a rise of 54 per cent.

The number of HIV tests being carried out has also increased from 1,606 in 1999 to 2,830.

Mr Taylor said the increase had put enormous pressures on the capacity at the city's specialist sexually transmitted diseases centre. He said: "The current premises are cramped and no longer ideal."

Mr Taylor said the nature of Brighton and Hove played a part in the figures.

His evidence, published this week, said "It is an urban area, with a large gay male population and high HIV rates.

"It has two universities, a large number of language schools and is a major holiday resort area - all of which attracts large numbers of people to the city, which further increases the number of STIs within the local population."

HIV tests at the drop-in centre in Eastbourne rose from 221 in 1999 to 337, a 57 per cent increase, and testing at Hastings rose 37 per cent from 268 to 368 last year.