The first national STD study that covers 4 of the most commonly contracted STD’s showed that nearly 1/4th of young women are infected with an STD.
The first national study of four common sexually transmitted diseases among girls and young women has found that one in four are infected with at least one of the diseases, federal health officials reported Tuesday.
Nearly half the African-Americans in the study of teenagers ages 14 to 19 were infected with at least one of the diseases monitored in the study — human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, genital herpes and trichomoniasis, a common parasite.
The 50 percent figure compared with 20 percent of white teenagers, health officials and researchers said at a news conference at a scientific meeting in Chicago.
The two most common sexually transmitted diseases, or S.T.D.’s, among all the participants tested were HPV, at 18 percent, and chlamydia, at 4 percent, according to the analysis, part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Each disease can be serious in its own way. HPV, for example, can cause cancer and genital warts.
Among the infected women, 15 percent had more than one of the diseases.
Women may be unaware they are infected. But the diseases, which are infections caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites, can produce acute symptoms like irritating vaginal discharge, painful pelvic inflammatory disease and potentially fatal ectopic pregnancy. The infections can also lead to longterm ailments like infertility and cervical cancer.
As Rachel notes:
And they didn’t even count HIV, gonorrhea, syphilis… Yikes.
The question becomes, why don’t women know they could become infected with STD? Could the colossal $1.5 billion failure otherwise known as Abstinence Only Sexual Education have something to do with the ignorance young women now have regarding their own sexual safety?
This rate, of 19 million new sexually transmitted infections per year is shameful. It throws away young women’s lives, particularly when so many of them do not even know they are infected and can be permanently damaged or die if left untreated. What I find so damn aggravating about this study is that treating the STD is easy and effective, yet Abstinence Only has turned our young people into ignorant boobs, because a few vocal people are too uncomfortable discussing sex, and don’t want sex discussed in schools.
“Today’s data demonstrate the significant health risk STDs pose to millions of young women in this country every year,” said Kevin Fenton, M.D., director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. “Given that the health effects of STDs for women – from infertility to cervical cancer – are particularly severe, STD screening, vaccination and other prevention strategies for sexually active women are among our highest public health priorities.”
“High STD infection rates among young women, particularly young African-American women, are clear signs that we must continue developing ways to reach those most at risk,” said John M. Douglas, Jr., M.D., director of CDC’s Division of STD Prevention. “STD screening and early treatment can prevent some of the most devastating effects of untreated STDs.”
The ignorance abounds when some young people do not believe sexual intimacy other than intercourse can spread an STD.
About half of the girls acknowledged having sex; among them, the rate was 40 percent. While some teens define sex as only intercourse, other types of intimate behavior including oral sex can spread some infections.
I’m sorry, but parents of young people must be realistic and realize that their children are not going to wait to have sex or be intimate just becasue you say so or your pastor says so. If you can’t discuss sex with your children, then another method of teaching sexual safety to our young people must be implemented. It’s for their own health and safety.
$1.5 billion for Abstinence Only Sexual Education? Doing NOTHING probably would have been more cost-effective.
Well put.
for a very long time, it has been my concern that the professionalization of just-about-everything that has to do with these kinds of issues has not served us well.
isn’t this what has led to the success of the anti-choice, anti-sex ed christian right? so many of us left it to organizations to keep tabs, decided all was well now that we had legislation, trained sex educators, etc. we got busy elsewhere–probably at demanding jobs.
mine is the second wave feminists, many staying at home with young kids, who pushed for change. we had TIME. sorry, but tha’s what it takes to make social movements work and thrive. now that capitalism has run completely amok and there’s a need for two-income families and the non-need for more and more goods and services what other than a serious recession will lead to change?
At the heart of abstinence-only sex education is a bunch of pathetic losers who are not getting any, so instead of fixing themselves so they can get some, they tell other people how wonderful it is to be a virgin so that they can make themselves feel better.
But at the end of the day, they are still miserable.
What about the boys? STDs require a partner so why are we focusing only on the female half of this equation? Somehow I doubt the girls are passing them around among themselves…
We have to address this from both sides otherwise this will end up all the girls’ fault.
Perhaps we should suggest a study on how many boys are running around with known/unknown STD’s.