1 in 4 Teenage Girls Have a Sexually Transmitted Disease

According to a study released by the CDC, at least one out of every four teenage girls are presently living with an STD.

When the girls were broken down into racial divisions the numbers were even more staggering for the African American community. One out of every two African American teen girls tested were positive for a sexually transmitted disease.

During the study, information and test results were collected for nearly 850 teenage girls between the ages of 14 and 19. The teens were tested for four separate sexually transmitted diseases; human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, herpes simplex virus and trichomaniasis.

The teenage girls tested positive for HPV most often with 20% of the participants being infected with a strain of HPV linked to cervical cancer and genital warts. The final three sexually transmitted diseases were found in less than 10% of the girls, making HPV the number one STD threat to teenage girls in this age group.

Unfortunately, the teenage girls participating in the study were only honest about being sexually active half of the time. Only 50% of the participants admitted to being sexually active, leading researchers to believe that teenage girls may not be screened appropriately for the STD’s they are carrying.

According to Dr. Elizabeth Alderman, an adolescent medicine specialist with Children’s Hospital, “We need to be screening [teenage] girls who are sexually active and providing them with [the] HPV vaccine.” At this time, HPV is the only STD that has an available vaccine.

While the test results clearly showed a division based upon the racial ethnicity of the participants, researchers were not surprised by this outcome. Common knowledge lends doctors to know there are no medical reasons for African American teen girls to become infected by STD’s more often. Rather, a lack of health care availability and poverty are thought to contribute to the higher rates of STD’s in teen  African American girls.

There is a new vaccine available for  human papilloma virus (HPV)which has been shown to prevent cervical cancer if given to girls before they are sexually active. The public should be made aware to the availability of this vaccine.