The number of sexually-transmitted disease infections in Amsterdam has gone up sharply over the past year, health officials said on Friday.

Infections are rising so quickly that officials are concerned they may reach a similar peak to the mid-1980s, news agency ANP reported.
Last year, the local health board recorded 178 new cases of hiv, the highest number ever, ANP said.
Syphilis infections are up 15% as well, largely among homosexual men.
And cases of chlamydia are up sharply in teenagers, health officials said.
Now that hiv can be more easily treated, risky sexual behaviour is increasing, health board official Han Fennema told ANP. ‘The trends we are seeing are of great concern,’ Fennema said.