Sexuality is part of our everyday life. What are you doing to educate yourself?
The U.S. has the highest STD rates of any country in the industrialized world. – Kaiser Family Foundation, December, 1998. Of the more than 15 million new STD infections each year:
- two-thirds will occur in people under 25 years of age
- one in four will occur in teenagers
Every year approximately 10 billion dollars is spent on major STDs other than AIDS and their complications. This cost is shared by all Americans.Today there are more than 30 STDs and over 200 strains of human papilloma virus (HPV).
A British study found that HPV infects 46% of teenage girls after their first sexual intercourse HPV is directly linked to 99.7% of all cervical cancers. Nearly as many women die of cervical cancer each year as die of AIDS.
Herpes increased 500% in the past 20 years among Caucasian American teens.
Nearly 50% of African-American teens have genital herpes.
Nearly 1 in 10 teen girls has chlamydia; nearly half of all cases are girls 15-19 years old.
Over 80% of teens with STDs show no symptoms and therefore never get medical attention, leaving them exposed to the risk of serious complications years later.
In a national Kaiser Family Foundation survey, one out of every five sexually active teens reported that oral sex is safe sex. However, HIV, herpes, HPV, intestinal parasites, gonorrhea, syphilis and hepatitus A & B can all be contracted through oral sex.
Condoms not only do not eliminate the risk of contracting an STD, they do little to prevent many viral infections spread by skin-to-skin contact, especially HPV and herpes.
New studies show that clinical depression in adolescent boys and girls is related to sexual activity and drinking.
RESOURCES:
- US Centers for Disease Control “Epidemic: Tracking the Hidden Epidemics: Trends in STDs in the United States 2000”.
- US Centers for Disease Control “CDC Issues National Report Card on STDs: Gonorrhea and Syphilis Down, but Not Beaten: Chlamydia Continues to Spread Widely” 1998.
- National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases, NIH, USHHS, “An Introduction to Sexually Transmitted Diseases” July 1999.
- NIAID & National Institutes of Health, “Workshop Summary: Scientific Evidence on Condom Effectiveness for Sexually Transmitted Disease STD Prevention, 2001.
- The Medical Institute on Sexual Health, “Oral Sex and STDs” Fall 2003.
- UPMC News Bureau: “Magee-Womens Research Institute Study Finds Undiagnosed Sexually Transmitted Disease Infection Rate of Nearly 1 in 5 Among Adolescent Females” June 7, 2001.
- The Medical Institute on Sexual Health, General Information, studies, statistics, more.
- US Centers for Disease Control, Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Information.