If One In Four Teenage Girls Have A Sexually Transmitted Disease, What Percentage of Teenage Boys Have A Sexually Transmitted Disease?
According to the Center for Disease Control, a quarter of teenage girls — more than 3 million — have a sexually transmitted disease. There doesn’t appear to be any corresponding research for teenage boys.
The numbers likely seem overwhelming
CHICAGO (AP) — 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 ages 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% 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%. 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.
I hate to come off like a prude or seem naive, but I find the fact that 3 million teenage girls have or have had a sexually transmitted disease a bit disturbing.
