A study published yesterday in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine concludes that half of teenage girls may be infected by at least one of three common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) within two years of having sex for the first time.
"The message here is to consider screening," says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. "First of all, doctors should be inquiring among their young patients about sexual activity, which some doctors are reluctant to do. Also, it's important to institute screening for these diseases, especially among teenage girls, who seem to be more susceptible to them. Unfortunately, abstinence-only sex-education doesn't work effectively to protect young women and girls from these fertility-threatening STIs." In a further misfortune, standard sex education doesn't seem to have a significantly different impact on behavior or disease rates either.