For the record, this statistic comes from a data analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm It uses data from the 2003-2004 survey.
Quote:
Chicago (March 11, 2008) – A CDC study released today estimates that one in four (26 percent) young women between the ages of 14 and 19 in the United States – or 3.2 million teenage girls – is infected with at least one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases (human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, herpes simplex virus, and trichomoniasis). The study, presented today at the 2008 National STD Prevention Conference, is the first to examine the combined national prevalence of common STDs among adolescent women in the United States, and provides the clearest picture to date of the overall STD burden in adolescent women.
Led by CDC’s Sara Forhan, M.D., M.P.H., the study also finds that African-American teenage girls were most severely affected. Nearly half of the young African-American women (48 percent) were infected with an STD, compared to 20 percent of young white women.
The two most common STDs overall were human papillomavirus, or HPV (18 percent), and chlamydia (4 percent). Data were based on an analysis of the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
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http://www.cdc.gov/STDConference/200...1march2008.htm
For more information on NHANES look here:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/factsheets/nhanes.pdf
It doesn't surprise me a bit that STD rates are rising. Teenage pregnancy rates are up too. We use fear tactics in our schools to teach teens about sex, and this is the end result. Fear, misinformation, and absence of information in regards to sex leads to these problems. Yes, we should share these statistics with teens--but we should do so with context, and with education.