4 Troubled Teens Blog

About 19 million new cases of sexually transmitted infections occur every year, with half of them among young people ages 15 to 19 years old, according to new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control.

• There were 1.2 million new cases of Chlamydia and about 337,000 cases of gonorrhea in 2008, the year of the latest report.
• Young women ages 15 to 19 years old had the most new cases of any other age group.
• Girls are at higher risk, because these diseases, if left untreated, can cause infertility, pregnancy problems, and infections in newborns.

Dr. John Douglas, director of the division of sexually transmitted diseases in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that better sex education could help.

"We are not honestly and openly dealing with this issue and of the larger issue of sexual health," Dr. Douglas said.

Labels: teenagers, sexually_transmitted_diseases

Posted By: Aspen/CRC