With all the crime and terror that is happening across the world, it is sad to note that it is getting increasingly difficult to be shocked by events and statistics read on various news sites; however, I had to take pause today when I saw this headline announcing that one in four teenaged girls in the United States has a sexually transmitted disease. According to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, approximately twenty-six percent of girls between the ages of 14 and 19 (over 3 million teenaged girls) is or has been infected with an STD, from herpes to chlamydia to HPV (human papillomavirus).
The results of this study were announced this March at the 2008 National STD Prevention Conference in Chicago, Illinois. To make the situation that much more dire, according to the lead researcher in the study, Sara Forhan, in terms of ethnic breakdowns, almost half of African-American teenaged girls have been or are infected with an STD, in comparison to twenty percent of white teenaged girls. John M. Douglas, Jr., a CDC director for the Division of STD Prevention, states, “High STD infection rates among young women, particularly young African-American women, are clear signs that we must continue developing ways to reach those most at risk.” He goes on to say that many of the effects of STDS like cervical cancer or infertility could easily be prevented with proper and early screening and treatment. The data also reflects that of all sexually transmitted diseases, the two most commonly seen in US girls are chlamydia and HPV. Because of this, testing for chlamydia each year, especially for those women under the age of 25 who are sexually active is recommended by the CDC. They also strongly urge that all women who are between 11 and 26 years get a full HPV vaccination.
Since effective testing and screening are strongly urged, the National STD Prevention Conference also had much discussion on this as well, including more creative and effective programs that have increased the rates of STD diagnoses. Recently, there was a confidential program to screen for chlamydia in several California clinics. This program was aimed towards those high-school-aged teenagers who sought out STD services and contraception. This resulted in a much higher screening rate (over 85%). In addition, the program was a demonstration of the higher rate of STD infection in African-Americans (just under 10%) compared to that of white women (almost 2%).
Also highlighted at this year’s conference was the push for reproductive health services to also include the much-needed STD screening. One study researched those women who sought emergency contraception and their STD screening rates. Of those women who came in, only 27 % actually got tested for gonorrhea and chlamydia. Almost half of the women who tested for these STDs actually had one of the two STDs. This demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt how any woman coming in for emergency contraception should automatically be screened for STDs since the visit would hint that the woman recently had unprotected sex and, thus, possible exposure to an STD.
译文:
26％的美国青春期女孩患上性传染病
尽管这个世界每天都有犯罪以及恐怖事件发生，我们悲哀地发现人们越来越难以被各种各样的新闻事件和统计数据所震惊了；然而，今天，当我读到一条头条新闻宣布有四分之一的美国青春期少女染上性传染病的时候，我不得不停了下来。根据一项疾病控制中心的研究，发现大约有26％的女孩，年龄范围从14岁到19岁（超过300万的青春期少女），正在或者曾经感染性传染病，从.疱疹到衣原体疾病到人乳头状瘤病毒(HVP)。
这项调查结果公布于今年3月份在伊利诺斯州的芝加哥举办的08年国家性传染疾病(STD)预防大会上。更让人觉得可怕的是，与受感染的20％的白种人女孩相比，几乎一半的非裔美国青春期女孩曾经或者正在感染性传染疾病。约翰.M.道格拉斯，一位性传染病预防中心的分支机构疾病控制中心主任，说到“少女中的高性传染疾病感染率，特别是非裔美国年轻女性，非常清楚地警示我们必须继续努力找到解决那些最易染上的危险疾病。”他继续说到，许多性传染疾病的影响比如宫颈癌或者不孕不育症原本可以通过正确并且早期的发现和治疗来预防。数据还表明在所有性传染疾病当中，美国少女感染最多的两种疾病是衣原体疾病和人乳头状瘤病毒。因此，疾病控制中心推荐每年都进行相关的衣原体疾病检查，特别是那些年龄在25岁以下，有着丰富的性经历的女孩。疾病控制中心还强烈呼吁年龄在11到26岁的所有女性都接种人乳头状瘤病毒疫苗。
自从有效的测试和造影术被强烈要求之后，国家性传染疾病预防大会也对此进行了多次讨论，包括更多的创造性的和有效的计划来调查分析性传染疾病率。这个项目计划主要是针对那些想获得有关性传染疾病服务和知道如何避孕的知识的适龄高中学生。结果有超过85％的学生进行了相关造影术。另外，这个项目同时也显示了非裔美国女性的高感染率，大约低于10％，可相比之下，白人女性大概只是2％。
今年大会的突出议程就是要在那些急需要做性传染疾病造影术的女性当中推广生殖健康服务。一项关于那些寻求紧急避孕方法和进行性传染疾病造影术的女性的调查研究表明，实际上只有27％的人进行淋病和衣原体疾病的检查。几乎一半的进行性传染疾病检查的女性被查出感染那两种最常见的疾病中的某一种。这毫无疑义地证明了任何一个接受紧急避孕的女性都应该主动地进行性传染疾病造影检查，因为这样的拜访可能暗示了这个女性最近有过未进行保护措施的性行为，所以，可能会显露出某种性传染疾病。