Holy crap. 1 in 4 American teenaged girls has an STD?
A recent study by the CDC found that One in four teenaged girls in America has an STD.
That number sounds impossibly high, but I believe it, because Americans are morons.
Some doctors said the numbers might be a reflection of both abstinence-only sex education and teens' own sense of invulnerability...
Only about half of the girls in the study acknowledged having sex. Some teens define sex as only intercourse, yet other types of intimate behavior including oral sex can spread some diseases.
Among those who admitted having sex, the rate was even more disturbing - 40 percent had an STD.
The teens were tested for four infections: human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause cervical cancer and affected 18 percent of girls studied; chlamydia, which affected 4 percent; trichomoniasis, 2.5 percent; and genital herpes, 2 percent.
ew ew gross gross
This is where the study starts to make sense. Obviously, it's not like 1/4 of teenage girls are infected with genital herpes or trich or warts or you would see girls scratching their crotches all of the time. Chlamydia and HPV are much more asymptomatic, so the girls don't realize that they have it and it gets passed around. These diseases are also mostly asymptomatic in men, which makes me wonder just how many teenage boys have STDs.
I mean, good fricking grief. I have friends, adult friends--male and female--who are still to scared to admit to their physicians that they are sexually active and therefore do not get pap smears or STD tests. I wonder what's festering in their series of tubes? If young adults feel the societal stigma about being sexually active, it's no wonder teens don't get tested and treated.
::headdesk::
Abstinence and condoms people. Why is that so hard to drill into people's heads? ::throws condoms at people::
That number sounds impossibly high, but I believe it, because Americans are morons.
Some doctors said the numbers might be a reflection of both abstinence-only sex education and teens' own sense of invulnerability...
Only about half of the girls in the study acknowledged having sex. Some teens define sex as only intercourse, yet other types of intimate behavior including oral sex can spread some diseases.
Among those who admitted having sex, the rate was even more disturbing - 40 percent had an STD.
The teens were tested for four infections: human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause cervical cancer and affected 18 percent of girls studied; chlamydia, which affected 4 percent; trichomoniasis, 2.5 percent; and genital herpes, 2 percent.
ew ew gross gross
This is where the study starts to make sense. Obviously, it's not like 1/4 of teenage girls are infected with genital herpes or trich or warts or you would see girls scratching their crotches all of the time. Chlamydia and HPV are much more asymptomatic, so the girls don't realize that they have it and it gets passed around. These diseases are also mostly asymptomatic in men, which makes me wonder just how many teenage boys have STDs.
I mean, good fricking grief. I have friends, adult friends--male and female--who are still to scared to admit to their physicians that they are sexually active and therefore do not get pap smears or STD tests. I wonder what's festering in their series of tubes? If young adults feel the societal stigma about being sexually active, it's no wonder teens don't get tested and treated.
::headdesk::
Abstinence and condoms people. Why is that so hard to drill into people's heads? ::throws condoms at people::