SPECIAL sexual health clinics are being set up across East Lancashire in a bid to tackle an explosion in cases of chlamydia.

From today people under 25 are being urged to visit the nine clinics to be checked out for the disease, which in most cases does not show any symptoms but can lead to serious complications.

It is the first time the screening service has been brought into the community and bosses hope this will take pressure off overloaded hospital services.

The new scheme will operate from GP surgeries, health centres and the offices of a major sexual health charity.

Screening is available to people under 25.

Previously clinics had only been run at Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospitals.

But a Government survey carried out in August showed just 54 per cent of patients were seen within 48 hours of asking for an appointment.

Cases of the disease have rocketed sixfold among East Lancashire teenagers aged 16 to 19 during the last decade.

Teenage girls in this age range are the worst affected, outranking the boys by more than three times.

It has also increased fivefold in those aged 20 to 24.

Bosses are worried because the condition can lead to infertility, complications in pregnancy and the agonising pelvic inflammatory disease.

And new figures show East Lancashire has among the highest rates in the North West for these devastating complications.

Claire Johnston, who has co-ordinated the scheme for East Lancashire, said: "Chlamydia is an increasing problem and it can have detrimental long-term health effects.

"But it is easily treated once detected.

"The screening programme is fully confidential and free at nine accessible locations across East Lancashire to make it easy for sexually active young people under the age of 25 to safeguard their sexual health."

Shocking 2005 figures show 1,400 females and 400 males aged 16 to 19 get the disease per 100,000 people in East Lancashire.

This is compared to just 200 females and 50 males in 1995.

About 1,100 people aged 20 to 24 per 100,000 were diagnosed last year - up from 200 females and 150 males ten years previously. The figures are mirrored nationally.

This has lead to high rates of complications, which can occur if chlamydia, Britain's most common sexually transmitted infection, is left untreated.

Of 43 areas in the North West East Lancashire's districts are all in the top 20 for cases of pelvic inflammatory disease.

This condition, which infects and inflames the female upper genital tract, can leave scarring, make intercourse painful and leave the woman infertile.

Up to 40 per cent of untreated Chlamydia cases can lead to the disease, the Health Protection Agency warns.

Blackburn with Darwen and Burnley recorded rates of 199 and 245 cases per 100,000 for pelvic inflammatory disease - compared to just 99 in Carlisle, Cumbria.

Cases of ectopic pregnancy, which can result from chlamydia, run as high as 123 per 100,000 in Rossendale - more than twice the number of cases in Preston.

This is where the fertilised egg is implanted outside the womb, usually in the fallopian tubes.

The foetus has to be removed otherwise it would grow and rupture the tubes causing massive internal bleeding.

A spokeswoman for Blackburn with Darwen NHS Primary Care Trust, which is paying for the scheme, said: "This is a step change in service provision. At present, the worried well' can attend Genito Urinary Medicine clinics (GUM) for a full STI screen but access issues into GUM are well documented."

The service will be provided from: l December 4: Colne Health Centre, Market Street.

l December 5: Brook Advisory Centre, Darwen Street, Blackburn.

l December 6: Padiham Clinic, Station Road and The Old Fire Station, Burnley Road, Rawtenstall.

l December 7: Information centre, Abbey Street, Accrington.

l December 11: Brook Advisory Centre, Bank Parade, Burnley.

l December 13: Needle exchange, James Street, Blackburn, Darwen Health Centre, James Street West and Clitheroe Health Centre, Railway View Road.