Half of Teen Girls Get STDs Within 2 Years of Having Sex
Within two years of having sex for the first time, half of teenage
girls may be infected with at least one of three common sexually
transmitted diseases (STDs), according to a new study, published in the
Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Often, those girls
are infected by the age of 15.
Researchers followed 386 urban
adolescent girls aged 14 to 17 for up to eight years. Within two years
of becoming sexually active, half of the girls were infected with at
least one of three common sexually transmitted organisms: Chlamydia
trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhea or Trichomonas vaginalis -- the
organisms that cause Chlamydia, gonorrhea and trichomoniasis,
respectively.
According to study investigator, Dr. Wanzhu Tu:
*A quarter of the women had acquired their first STD by age 15, most often Chlamydia.
*Repeated infections were very common.
*Within
four to six months (depending on the organism) after treatment of the
previous infection, a quarter of the women were re-infected with the
same organism.
These young women are vulnerable to STDs,
but because of their younger age, they may not be perceived by health
care providers as having STD risk, and thus are not screened in a
timely manner. STD screening (especially for Chlamydia) should begin
within one year after first intercourse and infected individuals should
be retested frequently, preferably every three to four months, says Tu.
Source:Reuters, "Half of Teen Girls Infected With STDs within 2 Years of Having Sex," Fox News, December 8, 2009.
For text: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,579703,00.html
For study abstract: http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/163/12/1106
For more on Health Issues: http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/?Article_Category=16
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This would have been a good place to give the stats on teens HIV / AIDS infection and cost to healthcare . We spend more money to keep kids from smoking , than counteracting legalizing marijuana and legalized drugs , which also cost mucho mucho to health , disability and rehabilitation care.
Of course maybe if Planned Parenthood and the Schools and Unions and Government, endorsed and even recognised the value of PREVENTION EDucation and ABSTINENCE rewards, thoughout the system. Even to using the scare tactics employed by Government Funded DWI and DRIVERS TRAINING FILMS, in showing the horrors and expense of traffic "accidents", maybe we wouldnt have video and internet sex so commonly accepted now as free speech , free love and boundaryless civil rights.
Seems like all those free condoms and third grade sex education classes, arent a drop in the bucket to the the old school axiom that "a ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".
Oh I forgot, our schools and government only believe in science , polls, and progessive learning programs. But do they work or just inform and encourage unformed brains to "go with the flow" experiment, and satisfy curiosity and peer approval? Are we educating in science or nurturing and stealing innocense? What progress.
Is anyone surprised that non of the healthcare expense and issues connected to our costs of Medicaid, Medicare and Private Insurance STD's, AIDS/HIV infections along with government funded abortions is discussed or cost analysis done? Surely it is all part of the Public Option and Healthcare debate.
Theres something wrong with the idea that States will supply clean needles to prisoners, and then the public also supply free medical care or medicaid and public options healthcare, in or out of prison . Who is in control here and when? Seems we might have been better off when we reinforced religion , prayer , boundaries and control and individual responsibility when kids were dependent upon parents and schools, ie young enough to learn what DISCRIMINATION was, outside of civil rights. Rather than give them religion, condoms and needles after they have committed crimes and are thrown in prison. If they can't control the STD's, hepatitis and AIDs transmission in the Prisons, Juvenile Justice jails, where there is definite ability to control and enforce restricted access. Maybe its time to take back some of the RIGHTS of parents to control the cirriculum, education and ideology taught to their kids and kids whose parents dont teach anything. Its one of the reasons that many taxpayers and Judeo Christians fought the establishment of a Federal Department of Education. Now States and Lawyers and Unions have more control over School Boards and Schools than parents and taxpayers. Think this doesnt all connect to sex ed , STD's and even university eduation philosophy and teachers education? HA HA HA
Unfortunately, we weren't necessarily better off when " we reinforced religion , prayer , boundaries and control and individual responsibility when kids were dependent upon parents and schools , ie young enough to learn what DISCRIMINATION was, outside of civil rights." Somehow, as people become frustrated with contemporary societal problems, they distort or idealize "what it used to be like" and fail to see the major societal problems which generations in decades and centuries past did indeed face. For example, typical, prevalent U.S. parental attitudes and deliberate teachings were RESPONSIBLE for children discriminating against blacks prior to 1960. Pre-1970 " abstinence " societal/parental attitudes may have prevented (some) STD's, but they also caused just-as-serious-as-STD's sexual dysfunctions and repressions which damaged and destroyed individuals,relationships,and marriages.
Fact is, humans are imperfect and fallible; and groups of humans -- countries and societies -- are therefore the group sum of imperfections and fallibilities.
There is no "answer", least of all a "return to the good ol' moral days" (which never actually existed anyway), which can solve all society 's problems. Whichever approach is tried -- whether religious or atheistic, governmental or parental, permissive or restrictive, preventative or prescriptive (or any combination of them) -- inevitably generates a set of serious problems. History is clear about that.