Posted on 03/12/2008 6:45:47 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
At least one in four teenage American girls has a sexually transmitted disease, suggests a first-of-its-kind federal study that startled some adolescent-health experts.
Some doctors said the numbers might be a reflection of both abstinence-only sex education and teens' own sense of invulnerability. Because some sexually transmitted infections can cause infertility and cancer, U.S. health officials called for better screening, vaccination and prevention.
Only about half of the girls in the study acknowledged having sex. Some teens define sex as only intercourse, yet other types of intimate behavior, including oral sex, can spread some diseases.
Among those who admitted having sex, the rate was even more disturbing - 40% had an STD.
High rates of sexually transmitted disease continue to be problematic for Milwaukee, which led the nation in the number of new chlamydia cases reported in 2005, according to a report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in October. The city is planning to add more managers and outreach workers to its STD/HIV clinics this year.
Among Wisconsin high school students surveyed in 2007, 44.6% reported ever having sex, while 32.9% reported having sex with one or more partners in the past three months, according to a state report. Of those who recently had sex, 61.4% said that they used a condom.
The same report found that 9,628 teens ages 15 to 19 were infected with either chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis or genital herpes in 2006. The majority of the cases were in Milwaukee County, where nearly 80% of cases occurred within 10 city ZIP codes - 53206, 53210, 53205, 53212, 53218, 53216, 53208, 53209, 53225, 53224.
Responding to the federal report released Tuesday, Elizabeth Alderman, an adolescent medicine specialist at Montefiore Medical Center's Children's Hospital in New York, said: "This is pretty shocking."
"To talk about abstinence is not a bad thing," but teen girls - and boys, too - need to be informed about how to protect themselves if they do have sex, she added.
Ellen Kruger, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, agreed, saying that teens need to hear the dual message that STDs can be prevented by abstinence and condoms.
The overall STD rate among the 838 girls in the study was 26%, which translates to more than 3 million girls nationwide, researchers with the CDC found. They released the results at an STD prevention conference in Chicago.
Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the study shows that "the national policy of promoting abstinence-only programs is a $1.5 billion failure, and teenage girls are paying the real price."
Similar claims were made last year when the government announced the teen birth rate rose between 2005 and 2006, the first increase in 15 years.
The new study by CDC researcher Sara Forhan relied on slightly older data. It is an analysis of nationally representative records on girls ages 14 to 19 who participated in a 2003-'04 government health survey.
The teens were tested for four infections: human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause cervical cancer and affected 18% of girls studied; chlamydia, which affected 4%; trichomoniasis, 2.5%; and genital herpes, 2%.
John Douglas, director of the CDC's division of STD prevention, said the results are the first to examine the combined national prevalence of common sexually transmitted diseases among adolescent girls. He said the data, now a few years old, likely reflect current prevalence rates.
Disease rates were significantly higher among black girls; nearly half had at least one STD, vs. 20% among whites.
Worthy of a “Mom Ping?”
Think of it this way. If one in four have an STD, then THREE IN FOUR DO NOT.
I’m convinced this study was sponsored by the makers of Guardisil.
Thank You Bill Clinton
Important article but posted at least two times yesterday.
When I read this article I wondered if anybody bothered to test the boys. If a quarter of girls have STDs...what percentage of boys have them? Seems a logical question to ask.
They push sex in schools, and now they are pushing queer sex, and are “startled” and confused that the kids have STDs, could liberals be any dumber?
I don’t believe this for a minute.
You ae absolutely correct. These girls are not getting the STDs from sitting on public toilets.
I’m sure that this is at least the 9th time this has been posted.
This is their plan - a world without judgement because everyone shares in the consequences of perversity.
It used to be that if you got an STD you were shamed and labled a slut or whore.
If we tell all little girls to have sex with every tom, dick and harry, then every little girl will be the same, will all have STDs - then there is no shame.
Please repeat the liberal mantra:
“The filth shown on TV, the movies and in popular music has absolutely no effect on kids behavior.”
I would like to see a class action suit against these media moguls by concerned parents.
Thank You, Bill Clinton, for this new paradigm in sexual mores........
Ok, in order to understand why this is a girls only article you have to read the original article, which I don't a link to, sorry, which includes the viruses that cause cervical cancer in the STDs. In other words they are setting people up with their same old scare tactics in order to get push their agenda on to the public. In a few days, or maybe even weeks, their will be a push for the new drug(forget the name)that is suppose to kill the cervical cancer causing viruses.
This article doesn't seem to have the reference to the viruses but the original one posted yesterday did.
I thought right then, oh, yes, no boys mentioned because the boys are not affected by those viruses so therefore the scare tactic wouldn't work as well if boys were mentioned, boys would bring the STD rate way down.
It will be posted at least that many more. Sorta like the 3 day Spitzer orgasism FR is having.
Count on it.
Huh, obviously logic is not the strong suit of “some doctors”. What idiocy
Tell Admin to pull it if you’d like.
Ask Admin to pull it, then.
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