An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings
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1 in 4 Teen Girls Has Sexual Disease
At least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease, or more than 3 million teens, according to the first study of its kind in this age group.
A virus that causes cervical cancer is by far the most common sexually transmitted infection in teen girls aged 14 to 19, while the highest overall prevalence is among black girls - nearly half the blacks studied had at least one STD. That rate compared with 20 percent among both whites and Mexican-American teens, the study from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.
About half of the girls acknowledged ever 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.
For many, the numbers likely seem “overwhelming because you’re talking about nearly half of the sexually experienced teens at any one time having evidence of an STD,” said Dr. Margaret Blythe, an adolescent medicine specialist at Indiana University School of Medicine and head of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on adolescence.
But the study highlights what many doctors who treat teens see every day, Blythe said.
Dr. 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, from 2003-04, likely reflect current rates of infection.
“High STD rates among young women, particularly African-American young women, are clear signs that we must continue developing ways to reach those most at risk,” Douglas said.
Well, gee willakers Mr. Wizard! How can we stop young girls from getting those ol’ nasty SEXUALLY transmitted diseases? Uh…gosh Poindexter, I dunno! How ’bout we give a pill and some bananas to put balloons on!
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HPV can be transmitted non-sexually, so I have a hard time getting worked up about it. Wasn’t that the justification for vaccinating all the 9-year-olds in Texas (at $300 per) or else they wouldn’t be allowed in school?
I had to look up trichomoniasis, though, that’s a new one.
Or we could stop wringing our hands and start innoculating.
Telling teens to stop copulating didn’t work 10 years ago. It didn’t work 50 years ago. It didn’t work 500 years ago.
Time to act responsibly and start some disease preventing.
Heather, they keep coming up with new diseases every day. I think they are inventing cures, then the disease. Hmmm….
grumps, I have no idea how old you are, but back in MY day….
Seriously, when I was in jr high…aka middle….there were no girls turning up pregnant. NONE. In high school, there were 3. That’s it. And believe me, it wasn’t a small school. The pill wasn’t readily available, so odds are, if ya ‘did it’, you were going to have a really bad reputation, or end up preggers. Ya see, back in the day, there was a stigma attached to spreading your legs. So, tell me, who is responsible for this decline? Wouldn’t it be more prudent to discourage sex at such a young age, instead of saying…oh it’s ok…go ahead and screw…we have a cure. Pfft!