Daughters in danger.Byline: The Register-Guard Listen up, parents. The sex talk thing with teenagers isn't working. Neither is the sex education thing. At least, not as well as you might have hoped. Doesn't matter if it's abstinence-only - which has never worked - or comprehensive sex education - which is far better, but still falls short for too many teens. None of it is working well enough to protect your daughters and sons from acquiring and spreading sexually transmitted diseases Sexually transmitted diseases Infections that are acquired and transmitted by sexual contact. Although virtually any infection may be transmitted during intimate contact, the term sexually transmitted disease is restricted to conditions that are largely at an unacceptably high rate. Daughters, especially, need more attention, because they end up with more and worse complications. Boys don't get cervical cancer, pelvic inflammatory disease pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), infection of the female reproductive organs, usually resulting from infection with the bacteria that cause chlamydia or gonorrhea. or have the same risk of STD-related infertility. And they don't get pregnant. Numbers are not an effective way of communicating risk (if they were, problem solved), but they offer perspective. Pick any four girls ages 14 to 19 at random and the odds are that one of them has a sexually transmitted disease sexually transmitted disease (STD) or venereal disease, term for infections acquired mainly through sexual contact. Five diseases were traditionally known as venereal diseases: gonorrhea, syphilis, and the less common granuloma inguinale, - in some cases, more than one. Change the selection to any four black girls and it's likely two will be infected. As shocking as that must seem to parents, it is not sinking in with an alarming number of teenagers. The United States leads developed nations in rates of HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. , other STDs, teen births and unwanted pregnancies. Sexually transmitted diseases are Oregon's most frequently reported infections and account for almost two-thirds of all reportable diseases. No matter how teenagers receive the "official" information - from parents, schools, churches or publications - the "unofficial" messages from popular culture, entertainment media and peers hold more sway with many. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. study released this month estimates that 26 percent of young women between the ages of 14 and 19 are infected with one of the most common STDs - human papillomavirus, chlamydia, herpes simplex virus Herpes simplex virus A virus that can cause fever and blistering on the skin, mucous membranes, or genitalia. Mentioned in: Conjunctivitis herpes simplex virus or trichomoniasis trichomoniasis (trĭk'əmənī`əsĭs), sexually transmitted disease caused by the parasitic protozoan Trichomonas vaginalis. (a common parasite). By far the most common of the four STDs was HPV HPV human papillomavirus. HPV abbr. human papilloma virus Human papilloma virus (HPV) , which can cause cervical cancer and genital warts. Eighteen percent of the girls were infected with HPV. There's one bit of good news in those bad numbers. An effective HPV vaccine is available. Young girls who are vaccinated before they become sexually active are protected against the most common strains of HPV. The hard part for some parents will be making sure their daughters are vaccinated soon enough. What's soon enough? The average age at which girls first have sexual intercourse is 15. That's right, 15. Some public health officials have recommended an HPV vaccination when girls reach age 11. That will be a tough call for some parents, but it will be easier than getting slammed with a double-shot of bad news a few short years later: Your precious teenage daughter is sexually active, and she's got a nasty case of human papillomavirus. Several things are clear from the latest CDC See Control Data, century date change and Back Orifice. CDC - Control Data Corporation study: fear tactics don't work; abstinence-only exhortations don't work; artificial pledges to postpone sex until marriage don't work; divorced from other information about human sexuality, clinical demonstrations involving condoms and bananas don't work; self-conscious parent communication of sanitized san·i·tize tr.v. san·i·tized, san·i·tiz·ing, san·i·tiz·es 1. To make sanitary, as by cleaning or disinfecting. 2. "birds and bees" information doesn't work; fact sheets, pamphlets, slide shows and PowerPoint presentations don't work. The endless culture war over sex education has produced no winners, but it has millions of young losers. As disease and pregnancy rates continue to climb among teenagers, parents, health professionals and sex educators need to take a step back and re-examine the current approach to imparting effective information about human sexuality to teenagers. A final caution against procrastinating: Researchers have found that one in five girls got infected with an STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialing) Long distance dialing outside of the U.S. that does not require operator intervention. STD prefix codes are required and billing is based on call units, which are a fixed amount of money in the currency of that country. by her first sexual partner. |
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