Study: 1 in 4 teens girls has an (sic) STD

[KnoxVegas]

CHICAGO, Illinois (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.


About 3 million teen girls have an STD and 18 percent of them have HPV which can cause cervical cancer.

A virus that causes cervical cancer is by far the most common sexually transmitted infection in teen girls aged 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 percent among both whites and Mexican-American teens, the study from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/11/teen.std.ap/index.html

Your Honor, I present evidence item #46,758B as proof that this truly is the fall of Rome.

[nhoskins]

And still parents balk at vaccinating their children against HPV...

[DanGenck]

I'd like to know the sampling the process for this study worked. If you had 250 girls in a school, that means 63 of them would (in theory) have an STD? That seems pretty high...

More details would be interesting with this study. The article does not answer all of the questions this brings up, though I agree, this would be good evidence to expand HPV vaccines.

[LaxRef]

I'd like to know the sampling the process for this study worked. If you had 250 girls in a school, that means 63 of them would (in theory) have an STD? That seems pretty high...

I'd like to know the sampling procedure as well, but your logic doesn't fly. Teenage is 13-19. So, you could have, say, all 19- and most 18-year-olds with STDs (most out of HS already) and none younger than that and still get to 1 in 4. Not that I think this is likely, but it's probably true to some extent since the 19-year-olds are probably the most likely to have STDs since older girls tend to be more sexually active.

[Also, I question the "(sic)" in the subject line. Since most people pronounce STD as "S-T-D" and not "Sexually Transmitted Disease," the "an" is appropriate due to the vowel sound to begin the letter S ("ess").]

[GrayBear]

[Also, I question the "(sic)" in the subject line. Since most people pronounce STD as "S-T-D" and not "Sexually Transmitted Disease," the "an" is appropriate due to the vowel sound to begin the letter S ("ess").]

Was waiting for that. LaxRef, you never disappoint!

[KnoxVegas]

I take some liberties with the use of (sic) to point out that it is just that... sick but to interject (sick) would have not been a pun now would it?

[Gvlax]

And still parents balk at vaccinating their children against HPV...

My roommate is biology major and he said when the vaccines came out there was a lot of debate in his classes about it. I guess there has been no long term study but there are things in the vaccine that would raise concerns for long term. But the ultimate question is do you get the vaccine to help stop HPV and risk future problems or do you wait and hope you dont get it?

[nhoskins]

And still parents balk at vaccinating their children against HPV...

My roommate is biology major and he said when the vaccines came out there was a lot of debate in his classes about it. I guess there has been no long term study but there are things in the vaccine that would raise concerns for long term. But the ultimate question is do you get the vaccine to help stop HPV and risk future problems or do you wait and hope you dont get it?

I seem to recall the outrage amongst parents of 11 year olds who were not sexually active getting vaccinated against a "sexually transmitted disease". As if they wouldn't have sex one day...

Most people end up with HPV in the end, its just that common. And really, it doesn't negatively impact males; the whole "not having a cervix" makes it relatively easy to dodge cervical cancer!

Besides, I'm not too worried about this study; I'm not having sex with any teenage girls