BEIJING, April 28 -- School nurses were facing a rising tide of sexual promiscuity and exploitation among Britain's teenagers, experts said April 27 while they gave the example of a 14-year-old boy who got HIV as a result of sexual activity.

School nurses were facing a rising tide of sexual promiscuity and exploitation among Britain's teenagers.

    Delegates at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) annual congress in Harrogate described a new craze in London schools known as "daisy-chaining", involving group sex among boys and girls visiting each other's homes and having sex with several partners before their parents get home from work.

    The nurses did not want to identify the area where they worked in order to protect the children, but they came from towns and cites across the country.

    Some young people were pressured into granting sexual favours to stay safe in a gang culture, while others used it as a way of proving their adulthood, nurses said.

    Graphic examples highlighted by nurses included a case of a 14-year-old boy who has tested positive for HIV contracted through sexual activity. When he was told, he said: "I can't be HIV positive - only old people get it."

    "Colleagues are coming across reports of young people having sex in large groups. It is known as daisy-chaining and is obviously very worrying as far as sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy is concerned." Judy McRae, a sexual health nurse in London, said. "It is very new and is only just starting to be talked about."

(Agencies)