Sir Elton John warned young people Wednesday that they would be "throwing their lives away" if they ignored new government figures showing a sharp increase in STDs in Britain. Last year, the number of new AIDS patients doubled compared to the previous year in Britain. The number of cases of gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia also increased sharply, according to government figures. "All I can say to people, especially young people, is get tested and have safe sex because with the way the disease is spreading at such an alarming rate, along with other sexual diseases, people are throwing their lives away and that is such a tragic thing," he said in London at the opening of a memorial garden. "We've come so far with the treatment of AIDS and HIV, and for people to be scared and not get tested, and to have unsafe sex is throwing us all back to square one," he said.

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