Study finds STDs common in girls
From Times Wire Reports
About 1 in 4 teenage girls in the United States -- and nearly half of black girls -- has at least one sexually transmitted disease, according to a new study.
Those numbers translate into an estimated 3.2 million adolescent females infected with one of the four most common STDs -- many of whom may not even know they have a disease or that they are passing it to their sex partners.
“What we found is alarming,” said Dr. Sara Forhan, a researcher with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the study’s lead author. “This means that far too many young women are at risk for the serious health effects of untreated STDs, including infertility and cervical cancer.”