One in four teenage girls between 14 and 19 in the United States is infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease, the most common being human papillomavirus, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released March 11.
The study is the first to examine the national prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases among teens, according to a CDC press release, and CDC spokesperson Jennifer Ruth said the results are not surprising.
“This study underscores what we at Planned Parenthood already know all too well,” said Planned Parenthood employee Lisa Dacey.
The study said that of infected women between the ages of 14 to 19, almost half were black and 20 percent were white.
Minorities generally have higher STD rates because they lack access to disease prevention and sexual prevention resources, according to health professionals.
“A lot of minorities think they cannot afford check-up visits or contraceptives,” Dacey said. “At Planned Parenthood we’re trying to provide accessible services and sexual health education to everyone.”
An April 2007 study performed by Mathematica Policy Research, a nonpartisan firm that conducts policy research surveys, said abstinence-only sex education programs had “no effect” on the sexual abstinence of younger people.
Despite the results of this study and others of its kind, the federal and state government spend a combined $87.5 million on abstinence education programs annually, according to Mathematica.
“The federal government has spent so much money on abstinence-only programs when study after study has proven it doesn’t work,” Dacey said.
Dacey said a more effective school program would combine abstinence education with more detailed sexual health education and more knowledge on prevention methods and the importance of regular check-ups.
“Empowerment comes in part from education about sexual health and prevention,” said Glory Ruiz, an employee at Boston Medical Center’s STD health program. “Unless you get tested, you’re not going to know for a fact if you’re safe from STDs.”
Ruiz said accessible services and better sex education are the two-front approach the growing problem needs.
“We still have a way to go in order to completely educate female teenagers,” Ruiz said. “STDs are not going away.”
Massachusetts General Hospital STD clinic nurse Karen Gacicia said the number of teenagers infected by STDs is not surprising because the cervix is more vulnerable to infection during teenage years.
About 10 percent of the Massachusetts General STD clinic’s patients are aged 19 and younger, Gacicia said. She said frequent examinations are crucial for women since the most common STDs, including HPV and Chlamydia, do not have symptoms.
“Women don’t even know they have an STD most of the time until it’s too late,” she said. “And the impact of having STDs gets worse.”