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Sexual HealthSexuality is part of our everyday life. What are you doing to educate yourself? The U.S. has the highest STD rates of any country in the industrialized world. - Kaiser Family Foundation, December, 1998. Of the more than 15 million new STD infections each year:
Today there are more than 30 STDs and over 200 strains of human papilloma virus (HPV).
A British study found that HPV infects 46% of teenage girls after their first sexual intercourse. Herpes increased 500% in the past 20 years among Caucasian American teens. Nearly 50% of African-American teens have genital herpes. Nearly 1 in 10 teen girls has Chlamydia; nearly half of all cases are girls 15-19 years old. Over 80% of teens with STDs show no symptoms and therefore never get medical attention, leaving them exposed to the risk of serious complications years later. In a national Kaiser Family Foundation survey, one out of every five sexually active teens reported that oral sex is safe sex. However, HIV, herpes, HPV, chancroid, intestinal parasites, gonorrhea, syphilis and hepatitis A & B can all be contracted through oral sex.
Condoms may lessen the likelihood of contracting bacterial STD's but contrary to popular belief they do little to prevent many viral infections that spread through skin-to-skin contact, like herpes and the potentially cancerous Human Papilloma Virus (HPV.) RESOURCES:
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