CE Week #7: “Study finds 1 in 4 teen girls in U.S. has at least one STD”
Stephanie Desmon
Baltimore Sun
March 12, 2008
About 1 in 4 teenage girls in the United States – and nearly half of black girls – has at least one sexually transmitted disease, according to a study released Tuesday, providing the first national snapshot of infection rates among this age group.
Those numbers translate into an estimated 3.2 million adolescent females infected with one of the four most common STDs – many of whom may not even know they have a disease or that they are passing it to their sex partners.
“What we found is alarming,” said Dr. Sara Forhan, a researcher with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the study’s lead author. “This means that far too many young women are at risk for the serious health effects of untreated STDs, including infertility and cervical cancer.”
The study’s authors analyzed data on 838 girls between ages 14 and 19 who participated in the 2003-04 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, an annual study that assesses a broad range of health issues. For the analysis, the teens were tested for human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, trichomoniasis and herpes. By far, the most common sexually transmitted disease was HPV. Of those infected, 15 percent had more than one STD.
“It shows that what people have always suspected is true,” said Dr. Emily J. Erbelding, an infectious-diseases specialist at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. “Sexually transmitted infections have been called a hidden epidemic, because a lot of these conditions are going to be asymptotic when they’re diagnosed, but they’re highly common.”
The overall figures could be slightly higher, because other sexually transmitted diseases – syphilis, HIV and gonorrhea – were not included in the study, although experts say the prevalence is low for those infections among adolescents. The study did not include teenage boys.
Forhan said she was surprised to see how readily the risk to young women appears. Of those in the study who said they had one sexual partner in their lifetime, the prevalence of STDs was 20 percent, she said.
While parents may be surprised by the study, it’s a reflection of what doctors have been seeing in their practices in recent years, said Dr. Ligia Peralta, chief of the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at the University of Maryland Hospital for Children in Baltimore. In a small study done among girls at in her university clinic in 2000, primarily black teens, 90 percent of the sexually active teens had HPV.
She called the CDC study “critical information for parents” and encouraged them to use this knowledge to be sure their daughters are being properly screened and taught about protection and prevention. She said parents need to know that the average age of a girl’s first sexual intercourse is 15.
I found this article particularly saddening just because these diseases are so prevalent. However, I’m glad to see that a study was done on this. Often times we here about these things, but nothing is done. Maybe this CDC study will help bring this issue to the table, as something that cannot be ignored because it affects so many Americans. I wonder how many girls that have these diseases had treatment available to them, and if they did if that would help decrease the number of people they would go on to infect. I also wonder if the people they contracted these diseases from had treatment available, so they would have known, and not infected others. With health care being such a huge issue, considering most Americans cannot pay for it, I wonder if this had an affect on those people, and if because they could not get treatment they only continued to spread the diseases. While I am not a supporter of nationalizing health care (partially due to the national deficit, and the fact that health care is not government’s responsibility and an invasion of the people’s rights), I do believe that this is a sign that health care DOES need to be more affordable, or that people need to cut back on spending and start directing their money towards things that DO matter.
After reading this article I was astonished. The subject-matter really is tragic. Being female and after learning this statistics, I am going to be doing all that I can to protect myself. To find out that 1 in 4 girls in the U.S. at the ages between 14 and 19 have an STD…….ack!! Now, trying to find a way to make a connection with our class and this article…..hmmm . Well, we learned in our last unit that the government‘s money goes to fund certain areas on our nation’s high-to-do-list. The majority of our taxes go to none other than Social Security. Great….we’re helping out the old people. Really, that’s a good thing. Even though it’ll probably be gone by the time I’ll get to benefit from it, still it’s a good federal program. But now, let’s think. Why can’t we also help the young? Fitting into the category myself, I would like to see some funding go towards a program that will educated young teenage girls about these statistics – more than just a sex education class in school. Now, obviously there has been some federal dollars at work here because now there is Guardasil, the HPV vaccine and being a recipient of that, I am grateful for it. I know that this subject-matter per say, does not even come close to registering on the government’s radar, but it still is just a thought. We focus so much on the elderly sometimes, why can’t we get some attention and some funding?
NC – Connection
This article was a real eye opener. I knew that the numbers of teens with a sexually transmitted disease were high but I had no idea they were like this. You would think after this research came out there would be something presented to fight against sexually transmitted diseases. Abortion seems to be a huge topic lately but to me this is more important. The numbers will be getting worse and worse by time with people not knowing they have a disease and passing it on to their sex partner. Abortion just stops a child from coming into the earth but a disease hurts the person who has it and who that person passes it to. Diseases will keep being more widespread and much more common to the everyday person. Testing needs to be in place for teens. I know there is optional testing going on all over the nation but how many people take advantage of it. I see commercials on MTV all the time promoting testing but it seems there needs to be something that will make teens get tested. They need to be aware of themselves. They can not be passing on a disease that they do not even know they have. Tests are important and will grow more and more important as time goes on. The only way to have teens be aware is testing required for teens.