Official Calls For Mandatory STD Testing Of Teens Starting In 8th Grade

WFSB - Channel 3 (CBS Affiliate) ^ | March 9, 2010

[Fixit]

NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Sexually transmitted diseases is a topic that many people don't like to talk about, especially with teenagers. But, the director of the regional health department in New London is calling for the mandatory testing of teenagers from eighth-grade through 12th-grade students in New London and Groton.

The hope is that other shoreline communities will follow suit and begin testing their teenagers as well.

Vanessa Reed works for the school-based health clinic that operates inside New London High School. She said there's an epidemic of STDs infecting Connecticut teenagers, particularly teenage girls, and it's no surprise that it's happening in diverse, urban areas.

Reed said, "From my experience, what I've seen, the majority of them are sexually active."

There are about 674 cases of chlamydia per 100,000 people in New London. In New Haven, a much larger city, there are close to 1,200 cases per 100,000 people.

Baker Salsbury, the executive director of the shoreline's regional health department, is proposing a 10-year plan to eradicate STDs, which included blunt health classes where teens hear real stories and see graphic pictures of infected teens. The plan also includes a requirement that every student get involved in some sort of after-school program and mandatory testing of all students for STDs beginning in eighth grade.

Channel 3 Eyewitness News Reporter Heather Hegedus asked Salsbury if he believed it was a bit too radical for some communities.

Salsbury said, "I think some people may see it as that, but that's simply because of the sensitivity that surrounds adolescent sexual activity in our society."

The school board and city officials would have to approve mandatory testing, but at New London High School, Reed said she thinks parents would be receptive to the idea.

Reed said, "Anyone who is going to the clinic in a high school knows. Obviously there's a stigma, but if it's mandatory and kids have to do it, and it's sort of like me checking your hemoglobin when you get a physical."

Reed said anyone contact Ledge Light Health District if you're interested in joining his task force, but Salsbury said the program will fail unless students take the lead in the program.

[STD]

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