MORE than five people a day are being diagnosed with chlamydia in the Lothians, new figures have revealed.
However, the region is bucking a national trend after numbers dropped here while rising across Scotland.
The Edinburgh Royal Infirmary continues to see far more new sexually transmitted disease (STD) cases than any other clinic north of the border
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HIV is also on the rise in Lothian after 41 new cases were diagnosed in 2007, compared to just 25 the previous year.
And young men and younger women are the most vulnerable groups, accounting for the lion's share of cases of chlamydia.
NHS Lothian believes the 12 per cent fall in cases from 1785 cases in 2006, to 1565 cases in 2007, is cause for optimism.
However, it had seen a continuous rise to 2006, and last year was still significantly higher than in 2005 and previous years.
Mike Massaro-Mallinson, strategic programme manager at NHS Lothian, said: "It's encouraging to see the number of cases of chlamydia infection drop.
"However, we are continuing to work hard with our partner agencies both to promote a responsible attitude to sex and encourage people to come forward for testing.
"This is being achieved through making services more accessible in local communities and promoting availability of chlamydia postal testing kits."
Across the whole of Scotland, four out of every five new diagnoses of chlamydia among women were in the 15 to 24 age group, while 71 per cent in men were among 20 to 34-year-olds.
In the Lothians, syphilis and gonorrhoea cases fell, but genital herpes and genital warts increased. Across Scotland, gonorrhoea was the only STD to fall.
In both of the last two years, more than 18,300 STDs were diagnosed at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, up from 15,367 in 2005. Cases at the ERI's gay men clinic have more than doubled in two years to 557.
Health chiefs hope the rising numbers are at least in part due to better awareness and testing, but at the same time accept that Scotland is facing a sexual health time-bomb.
Minister for Public Health Shona Robison said: "It is disappointing to see rising rates of STDs, and although there are small signs of improvement in increased awareness and testing, this is not yet enough.
"Last month, I announced a new chlamydia testing and treatment programme that will be available later this year free of charge in community pharmacies around Scotland.
"This will help make an important contribution to improving sexual health, but it's vital that young people take advantage of these free local services.
"As we see an all-time high in the number of older women taking advantage of breast screening, we want to create the same levels of awareness in young people about STD testing, treatment and – perhaps most importantly – prevention."
