by Stephanie Desmon
http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2008/03/12/study_1_in_4_teen_girls_ha
s_an_std/

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The Boston Globe
Study: 1 in 4 teen girls has an STD
CDC says rate higher in blacks

By Stephanie Desmon
The Baltimore Sun / March 12, 2008

About 1 in 4 teenage girls in the United States - and nearly half of
black girls - has at least one sexually transmitted disease, according
to a study released yesterday, providing the first national snapshot
of infection rates among this age group.

Those numbers translate into an estimated 3.2 million adolescent
females infected with one of the four most common STDs - many of whom
may not even know they have a disease or that they are passing it to
their sex partners.

"What we found is alarming," said Dr. Sara Forhan, a researcher with
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the study's lead
author. "This means that far too many young women are at risk for the
serious health effects of untreated STDs, including infertility and
cervical cancer."

The study's authors analyzed data on 838 girls between ages 14 and 19
who participated in the 2003-04 National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey, an annual study that assesses a broad range of
health issues. For the analysis, the teens were tested for human
papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, trichomoniasis, and herpes. By far,
the most common sexually transmitted disease was HPV. Of those
infected, 15 percent had more than one STD.

"It shows that what people have always suspected is true," said Dr.
Emily J. Erbelding, an infectious diseases specialist at Johns Hopkins
Bayview Medical Center. "Sexually transmitted infections have been
called a hidden epidemic because a lot of these conditions are going
to be asymptomatic when they're diagnosed, but they're highly common."

The overall figures could be slightly higher because other sexually
transmitted diseases - syphilis, HIV, and gonorrhea - were not
included in the study, although epidemiologists say the prevalence is
low for those infections among adolescents. The study did not include
teenage boys.

The paper was being presented this week at a CDC conference on STD
prevention in Chicago.

Forhan said she was surprised to see how readily the risk to young
women appears. Of those in the study who said they had just one sexual
partner in their lifetime, the prevalence of STDs was 20 percent, she
said.

While parents may be surprised by the study, it's a reflection of what
doctors have been seeing in their practices in recent years, said Dr.
Ligia Peralta, chief of the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult
Medicine at the University of Maryland Hospital for Children in
Baltimore. In a small study done among girls in her university clinic
in 2000, primarily black teens, 90 percent of the sexually active
teens had HPV.

She called the CDC study "critical information for parents" and
encouraged them to use this knowledge to be sure their daughters are
being properly screened and taught about protection and prevention.

There are 19 million sexually transmitted diseases in the United
States - costing the healthcare system $15 billion a year - and almost
half occur among the 14-to-25 age group, said Dr. Kevin Fenton of the
CDC. Officials called sexually transmitted diseases a public health
epidemic and said efforts must be made to improve screening,
education, and other prevention strategies for sexually active teens.
http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2008/03/12/study_1_in_4_teen_girls_ha
s_an_std/
by Stephanie Desmon