There was an article making the rounds yesterday that served to shock the parents of teenage girls across the nation. The article reported that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that over twenty five percent of teenage girls have a sexually transmitted disease. This means that over three million teenage girls are suffering from an STD right now.
And of course the worst part is that many of these girls either don't know that they have the STD or aren't getting the proper treatment for it. Teens who are having unprotected sex may not have the awareness or maturity level that is necessary to nip STDs in the bud. Certain STDs, such as chlamydia, that go unchecked for a long period of time can lead to long-term problems in the body such as increased risk of infertility.
We've reported in the past that there are doctors and researchers working on ways to raise awareness about chlamydia and its related infertility problems. The hope is to reduce ifnertility by encouraging women to prevent getting these STDs and to get them treated in the early stages if they do contract them. Unfortunately, this type of targeted awareness doesn't necessarily focus on teens.
In general, teens are going to be more concerned about the immediate impact of STDs than the long-term impact that they can have. As they get older, they will realize that they may have done some major damage to themselves. When they're required to use in vitro fertilization or surrogacy to have children, they'll be thinking twice about that unsafe sex but by then it's going to be too late.
Question of the Day: How can we raise awareness of long-term STD concerns among teens?
