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Chapter 14. Major Sexually Transmitted Infections: Some Basics

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Major Sexually Transmitted Infections: Some Basics

This activity examines the causes, symptoms, and rates of several different types of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

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Major Sexually Transmitted Infections: Some Basics

These and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), if left untreated, may lead to serious reproductive and other health problems or even, as with HIV/AIDS and syphilis, to death. STIs can be avoided by consistently using condoms, having sex only in a relationship with an uninfected partner, or abstaining from sex—oral, anal, and genital.

Learn more about sexually transmitted infections (STIs)

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1. Rates of STIs among sexually active teenagers

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 20 million new sexually transmitted infections occur every year in this country, half among young people ages 15–24. Why do sexually active teenagers have higher rates of the most common STIs than do people in other age groups? (You may wish to explore CDC Atlas, which shows geographic patterns and time trends of several different STIs.)
Your answer may reference the fact that fully developed women have more vaginal secretions, which offer some protection against STIs, than do adolescent girls. Or, you might say that teens are less likely to notify their partners of or seek treatment for an STI until the symptoms become painful. Or, your answer may be more speculative: For example, you might suggest that sexually active teens are more careful about avoiding conception than protecting themselves from STIs.

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REFERENCES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014, December 16). 2013 Sexually transmitted diseases surveillance: Table 45. Selected STDs and complications - Initial visits to physicians' offices, national disease and therapeutic index, United States, 1966-2013. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). 2013 Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). HIV diagnoses (2012). from NCHHSTP Atlas http://gis.cdc.gov/GRASP/NCHHSTPAtlas/main.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013, February). Incidence, prevalence, and cost of sexually transmitted infections in the United States: CDC Fact Sheet. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of STD Prevention.