SEXUALLY transmitted infections in Southampton are increasing and “getting worse” according to figures from Public Health England.

Southampton is the city with the fifth-highest rate of STIs in England outside of London.

There are 1,227 diagnoses for every 100,000 residents with rates “increasing and getting worse”.

Cities in the South East of England including Southampton and Portsmouth have made the top ten in a league table of the areas with the highest rates in the country, according to a new analysis by the sexual health experts behind the STI testing for E4’s hit TV show “The Sex Clinic”.

The latest figures from Public Health England show that the number of new STI diagnoses rose 5% in England last year,

Better2Know a private sexual health services provider, crunched the data to unveil which areas of the country have the highest rates of new diagnoses.

Southampton has on average 1.22 diagnoses per 100 while London the worst-performing region of England overall, with an average of 1.71 diagnoses per 100 people tested.

The national average is 0.85 per 100.

Brighton and Hove, Southampton, Portsmouth and the county of Hampshire were the only regions of the South East where there have been year-on-year increases in the proportion of STI diagnoses.

All other areas in the region saw either no significant change or year-on-year decreases in the proportion of STI diagnoses.

Anthea Morris, Director at Better2Know comments: “Our analysis shows that cities tend to have higher proportions of positive STI tests results than rural areas, with hotspots around Hampshire, Brighton and London. We were surprised to find that political and financial centres such as Westminster and the City of London have some of the highest rates.”