I went onto the Huffington Post this morning and the article "Sex infections still growing in U.S., says CDC"  by Maggie Fox immediately caught my eye.

Here are some of the salient results of the CDC's recent study:

* 1.2 million cases of chlamydia were reported in 2008, up from 1.1 million in 2007.

* Nearly 337,000 cases of gonorrhea were reported.

* Adolescent girls 15 to 19 years had the most chlamydia and gonorrhea cases of any age group at 409,531.

* Blacks, who represent 12 percent of the U.S. population, accounted for about 71 percent of reported gonorrhea cases and almost half of all chlamydia and syphilis cases in 2008.

* Black women 15 to 19 had the highest rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea.

* 13,500 syphilis cases were reported in 2008, an almost 18 percent increase from 2007.

* 63 percent of syphilis cases were among men who have sex with men.

* Syphilis rates among women increased 36 percent from 2007 to 2008.

Overall, CDC estimates that 19 million new sexually transmitted infections occur each year, almost half among 15- to 24-year-olds.
 

I wish I could say these are startling statisics.... but unfortunately as most of us know, this is not news.

What I like about this article is that it emphasizes the connection between these statistics and the problems with our sexual health education system here in the U.S.



The first sentence reads, "American squeamishness about talking about sex has helped keep common sexually transmitted infections far too common, especially among vulnerable teens."

The article also quotes John Douglas, director of the division of sexually transmitted diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who says, "We haven't been promoting the full battery of messages. We have been sending people out with one seatbelt in the whole car," and, "We are not openly dealing with this issue and it's the larger issue of sexual health." 

Here are Douglas' thoughts on some of the most at-risk groups: young people, men who have sex with men, and black Americans:

Douglas said children and teens need to know about condom use, and should limit their number of sex partners and avoid sex with people who do have many other sex partners.

"If you are a man who has sex with men you ought to be getting a battery of STD tests every year," Douglas added.

In addition, black Americans need to understand their risks. Douglas said high rates of incarceration of men in many black communities meant fewer men have sex with more women, in turn often spreading sexually transmitted diseases.
 

Please link to more articles on this study, and the study itself if anyone comes across it!

Have questions? Click here for info on STIs and here for info on HIV.