A Quarter of Teen Girls in the U.S. Have an STD

It's enough to send parents running to lock their teens in their bedrooms for life — 1 in 4 teenage girls in the United States has a sexually transmitted disease (STD), according to eye-opening new government findings.

In the first-ever federal report to simultaneously address the most common STDs among girls, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) focused on four — chlamydia, genital herpes, human papillomavirus (HPV), and trichomoniasis.

In addition to the revelation that more than 25% of the 838 randomly chosen 14- to 19-year-old girls have one of those STDs, the researchers also report that:

• approximately half of the teens in the study said they'd had sex; 40% of those girls had an STD
• 50% of black teens had at least one of the STDS, as did 20% of white teens
• 15% of the girls with an STD were infected with more than just one
• even 1 in 5 girls who reported having had only one sexual partner had at least one STD

And the researchers estimate that a staggering 3.2 million teen girls could potentially have at least one of these four STDs (with HPV being the most prevalent).

The Repercussions of Sex

Before kids make that very adult decision to have sex they need to understand that it can come with many very adult consequences, too.

Pregnancy is often the biggest concern for sex-curious teens. And it should be a major worry, considering that nearly 1 million teenage girls in the United States have babies every year. A recent government report also showed that, in 2006, the number of births by teen moms (ages 15 to 19) rose for the first time in nearly 15 years.

Of course, getting pregnant isn't the only risk that sexually active teens need to be worried about. They should understand that choosing to be intimate also puts them at great risk for STDs — some of which (like AIDS, HPV, and genital herpes) could stay with them for life.

Although AIDS gets far less media attention than it did in decades past, an estimated 42 million people worldwide are still living with AIDS or HIV (human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS), with more than 3 million dying every year from AIDS-related illnesses.

And HPV infection is also a serious, though relatively new, concern. It's the leading cause of cervical cancer and genital warts, affecting more than half of sexually active people at some point in their lives — about 6.2 million each year.

These kinds of staggering statistics are why it's crucial for parents to talk to kids and teens about not only sex, but STDs, preferably before they become sexually active.

What This Means to You

STDs can be a frightening and confusing subject, so it might help make potentially uncomfortable discussions a little easier if you're informed by reading up on STD transmission and prevention. You'll want to correct — and certainly not add to — any misinformation. Plus, being familiar with the topic will likely make you feel more confident and at ease.