Teen Stds By The Numbers

The explosion of STDs among our children is a hidden epidemic.

Still not convinced? I’ll let the facts speak for me:

• This year, 8 to 10 million teens will contract an STD
• Nearly one in four sexually active teens is living with an STD at this moment
• Nearly 50% of African-American teenagers have genital herpes
• Although teenagers make up just 10% of the population, they acquire 20 to 25% of all STDs.
• Herpes (specifically herpes simplex virus type 2) has skyrocketed 500% in the past 20 years among white American teenagers
• One in five children over the age of 12 tests positive for herpes type 2.
• Nearly one out of ten teenage girls has chlamydia, and half of all new chlamydia cases are diagnosed in girls 15 to 19 years old.
• STDs account for 87% of all cases reported of the top most frequently reported diseases in the United States in 1995.

Even more terrifying is that these numbers are only guesstimates. Because most STDs have no symptoms, experts can only estimate the scope of the epidemic. The actual figures, some say, are many times higher.

Now, do you agree, this is an epidemic?

The above is an excerpt from Your Kids at Risk