nabeepchen

Just as an addendum to the late, great study on STDs in teens. I notice that none of the mainstream media outlets mentioned the timing of this, given how Merck’s aggressive and ethically challenged lobbying for HPV vaccine mandates was exposed and largely failed last year. Why now? Is it because enough time has passed that people don’t remember, so it’s time to make another push for the vaccine by going through the back door, via a “scientific study.”

Also of concern is the study population itself. The survey contacted 838 women ages 14 to 19 who agreed to be tested for a sexually transmitted infection. Now, these are girls who are probably sexually active if they agreed to be tested. Do they represent the general population? Maybe, maybe not. It depends on where you’re looking, and also the age group. There are going to be a lot more 18 and 19 year old girls screwing around, as opposed to 14 year olds.

But from the very select population, the researchers estimated that 3.2 million teenagers are infected with at least one STD.

It doesn’t seem like any reporters questioned this data, or asked the CDC what else can be done aside from promoting the Merck vaccine.

Well, yeah, we already know that the United States leads the developed world in sexually transmitted infections, and also in HIV infection (as opposed to just your run of the mill twat and weenie diseases). And we also lead the developed world in rates of teenage pregnancy, abortion, and unwanted/unintended pregnancy in general, despite the fact that rates for pregnant teens have declined somewhat.

But this new CDC report is a little sketchy, and of course, the mainstream media has to present it in the most alarmist way possible. Nothing like stirring the pot in the fight for ratings, is there.

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than one in four U.S. teen girls is infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease, and the rate is highest among blacks, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.

An estimated 3.2 million U.S. girls ages 14 and 19 — about 26 percent of that age group — have a sexually transmitted infection such as the human papillomavirus or HPV, chlamydia, genital herpes or trichomoniasis, the CDC said.

This really isn’t at all surprising, considering that decent and informative sex ed isn’t available in schools (just say no until marriage doesn’t cut it). And after we get through the hype and canned quotes, it isn’t until much further down that we learn that HPV, which can cause genital warts and cervical cancer, was the most common infection, seen in 18% of the girls. HPV, for the vast majority of both girls and boys, is transient. You catch it, and your own body’s immune system takes care of it. There is no treatment for it and most people wouldn’t need treatment anyway. Most people in fact, never even know that they have an HPV infection. So girls who were counted at the time of the survey as having HPV may have been “cured” of it by the time theses results were published.

It says that the second most common infection was chlamydia, seen in 4% of the girls. Trichomoniasis was seen in about 3% of the girls, and 2% had Herpes simplex virus type 2–which seems kind of low. They didn’t ask about syphilis, gonorrhea or HIV infection, but the prevalence of those diseases are quite low in this age group. But without HPV in the picture, the rate of STDs that actually cause symptoms and have a treatment protocol, is only 9%.

This isn’t to downgrade the importance of HPV as having the potential to wreck havoc, but as I said, for most people who come in contact with it, HPV is benign. Some studies estimate that up to 75% of the sexually active population are exposed to at least 1 strain of HPV (there are about 100), and because HPV is so firmly entrenched in the general population, a person can have very few sexual partners and still come into contact with this virus.

But I think the main message here is the differences among ethnic/racial groups.

Forty-eight percent of black teen-age girls were infected, compared to 20 percent of whites and 20 percent of Mexican American girls. The report did not give data on the broader U.S. Hispanic population.

So why are black girls so much more likely to be infected? Well, I guess that can be the subject of a thesis, as racial disparities in healthcare are seen in all areas, whether it be breast cancer, heart disease or STDs.

What does this survey tell us? Absolutely nothing that we didn’t already know. Instead of wasting time and funds coming up with new numbers to crunch, how about doing something about the high rates of STDs in the U.S., as well as racial disparities. But I guess it’s easier to keep doing studies that conclude that we “need to do something,” rather than actually doing it.

Doing something about it means getting the new HPV vaccine, according to the CDC. And these articles read like an advertisement for it. I wouldn’t be surprised if this survey was just a scare tactic to show how many girls are infected with it, and why we are in dire need of this vaccine. Never mind that evidence is slowly creeping out that there are safety issues connected with the vaccine (deaths have been reported), and that perhaps the benefit does not equal the risk.

I would recommend the vaccine to women in developing nations, where cervical cancer is a major cause of cancer death. But in the U.S. and other industrialized nations, closer attention needs to be paid to the adverse events.

And as I said, touting a vaccine doesn’t to address the health problems that I described above. The CDC should be on the forefront advocating universal primary health care, reproductive services for both men and women, and getting some real sex ed into schools–and having it taught by someone who is trained to teach it, not the algebra teacher who isn’t quite sure what sperm is.