Sexually Transmitted Diseases

It can't happen to me! . . . at least you hope not. . .

All sexually active females under the age of 26
should be checked annually for Chlamydia

Half of all new STDs occur in 15-24 year-olds
In many instances, STD symptoms are not present and the STDs are spread unknowingly to sexual partners

Teens are more at risk than ever before!
 
 
This is. . . s c a r y  s t u f f !

Here is some basic information from the Centers for Disease Control.

Dr. Howell Wechsler, Director of the CDC Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH), provided an update on CDC’s adolescent sexual and reproductive health activities.
                Of all high school students in the United States, 47% are sexually experienced. 
                 Persons 15-24 years of age account for nearly 50% or 9.1 million of all new STDs
                  acquired each year.
                Based on data from 33 states with confidential name-based HIV infection
                  reporting systems, an estimated 4,824 HIV cases occur annually among persons
                  15-24 years of age.
                Persons 15-19 years of age account for 831,000 of all pregnancies that occur
                  each year.

Recent trends in STD, HIV and teen pregnancies are summarized as follows.
          Since the early 1990s, the percent of sexually active youth has decreased and the
            use of condoms and contraception has increased among sexually active youth.
          Improved screening has led to increased rates of some STDs.
          Pregnancy rates have decreased overall, but smaller reductions were seen in
            ethnic/minority  youth. Most recent data suggest that rates are not continuing to
           decrease and have remained level in most states.

Racial/ethnic populations are disproportionately affected by these trends.
      The rate of sexual intercourse is 68% among AA high school students compared to
        51% among hispanics and 43% among whites.
      AA adolescents represent 70% of all HIV/AIDS cases among persons 13-19 years of age.
        Data from 2004 showed that Hispanics accounted for ~83% of teen births compared to
        61% among
     AAs and ~27% among whites. The 47% decline in teen birth rates among AAs was the largest
     compared to whites and Hispanics.

Is she talking about me?

Dr. Sara Forhan, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said,
"What we found is alarming!"
She states,"One in four female adolescents in the U.S. has at least one of the
four most common STDs that affects women."

These common STDs include:
                         Human papillomavirus (HPV)                         Chlamydia
                         Herpes simplex virus                                   Trichomoniasis

 HPV and chlamydia are the most common STDs found among teenage girls, Forhan said. "Almost one in five overall had a strain of HPV associated with cervical cancer or genital warts," she said.

 As for chlamydia, 4 percent of teenaged girls had this STD, Forhan said. "The majority of chlamydia infections do not have symptoms. If left untreated, it can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, which leaves these young women at risk for atopic pregnancy, chronic pelvic pain or infertility," she said.
          In addition, the study found that 2.9 percent of young women had trichomoniasis, and 2 percent were infected with genital herpes, Forhan said.

Have you had your screening yet?  Why not? 
Are you waiting for a "friend" to tell you that they got an STD from you?

"We need to be screening adolescent girls who are sexually active and providing them with HPV vaccine," Alderman said.  Dr. Elizabeth Alderman is an adolescent medicine specialist at Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York City and chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Section of Adolescent Health of the American Academy of Pediatrics."The recommendations are to screen sexually active girls, but many girls don't disclose to their health-care provider that they are sexually active, even when asked," she said.