In a recent study conducted by federal health officials, the first of its kind on a national level, in fact, researchers discovered that one in four young women, ages 14 to 19, are infected with one of the following diseases or viruses: human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, genital herpes, and/or trichomoniasis. While some diseases, such as chlamydia, can be treated, if caught in its early stages, as to not lead to additional bodily harm, others, such as HPV, can mean life-long consequences, including genital warts and even cervical cancer. Unfortunately, black young women, despite their relatively small portion of the entire U.S. population, were found to have contracted the aforementioned diseases/viruses/infections at the highest rates:
Nearly half the African-Americans in the study of teenagers ages 14 to 19 were
infected with at least one of the diseases monitored in the study — human
papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, genital herpes and trichomoniasis, a common
parasite. The 50 percent figure compared with 20 percent of white teenagers,
health officials and researchers said at a news conference at a scientific meeting in Chicago. The two most common sexually transmitted diseases, or S.T.D.’s, among all the participants tested were HPV, at 18 percent, and chlamydia, at 4 percent, according to the analysis, part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
- Wendi Muse