| 8 weeks 2 days 18 hours ago Study: 1 in 4 teenagers has an STD
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(NECN) - A new study suggests the number of teenagers diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease might be higher than expected.
NECN's Ally Donnelley has details.
Script:
Dr Mark Goldstein says he's not surprised by a new report that shows one in four teenage girls in this country has a sexually transmitted disease.
“This sort of behavior does go on in middle school whether parents want to acknowledge it or not.”
In a first of its kind study, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control analyzed infection rates for girls aged 14 to 19. They found more than 3.2 million teen girls had at least one STD -- the two most common, were the Human Pappiloma Virus or HPV -- accounting for 18% of infections-- and Chlamydia at 4%.
Within three years after initiation of sexual intercourse, about 80% of adolescent females will test positive for HPV.
State officials call it a public health crisis. Take Massachusetts for example; in 1997 there were about 7,000 cases of Chlamydia, less than 10 years later that number more than doubled to 15,000.
Chlamydia in young women can lead to infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy.
Dr. Al Demaria heads the State Department of Public Health and says STDs can be spread terrifyingly easily, even if unintentionally.
When you consider that fact, that most women are asymptomatic and aren't getting screened, what does that tell you about the numbers?
Experts
say the issue must be tackled on two fronts. The first a medical one. Though he knows it's controversial -- Dr. Goldstein can't recommend the HPV vaccine strongly enough. The bulk of HPV infections are transient, meaning the body can tackle them on its own, but some HPV cases do lead to cervical cancer.
“I want them to consider the HPV vaccine a necessary tool for their daughter's future health.”
The vaccine can be given to girls starting at age 9, but Goldstein says it's important to administer it before the girls might consider themselves sexually active.
It can be transmitted by non-intercourse methods, touching for example. Studies have shown, virgins, for example have an 8% risk of getting HPV just by a relationship of touching.
Experts say the second front is making sure kids know how disease spreads. Demaria says often girls think the birth control pill will protect them.
“We're not doing a good enough of job of educating adolescents with the kind of information they need to protect themselves. I mean, these are preventable diseases.”
Demaria says whether it's teaching abstinence or sex education, parents must be their kids’ first line of defense.
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