CDC: One in four teen girls has a sexually transmitted disease
Story By: Bea Karnes
Source: KOAA
If your teenage daughter has three girlfriends, chances are, one of them has a sexually-transmitted disease. The Centers for Disease Control says at least one in four teenage girls has an STD. For some girls, the risk is double that.
It's an alarming wake-up call for teens and parents, hoping that "one" won't be their daughter. The CDC report says even girls who say they've only had sex once have a one in five chance of being infected.
Dr. John Douglas, Director of the CDC Division of STD Prevention said, "This is not new data, but a way to better understand the leading edge of the most vulnerable part of the population."
The CDC screened over 800 teen girls for HPV, the most common STD. Chlamydia, herpes and trichomoniasis not syphilis, gonorrhea or HIV. CDC lead researcher Dr. Sara Forhan said, "These numbers translate into 3.2 million women, age 14 to 19, who are infected with an STD."
But the data is four to five years old before the HPV vaccine came out. So researchers don't know if now things are better or worse.
The prevalence among black teens is alarming. The CDC says almost half of all African American teens have a sexually transmitted disease. But not because they're having riskier sex: "Many African Americans remain at high risk because of the high prevalence in the community. In that respect, community risk really trumps individual risk," said the CDC’s Dr. Douglas.
Other CDC studies found only a quarter, to just over a third of young women who get pregnancy tests and emergency contraception are screened for STDs. The CDC calls that a missed opportunity.
STDs cost the U.S. more than $15 billion every year. The CDC is encouraging innovative solutions like health clinics in schools and doctors who treat both patients' and their partners.
