The CDC recently released new data regarding STD infections among teenagers. The result: teens need better sex education. In the past ten years, the annual rate of AIDS diagnoses for 15 to 19 year old boys has nearly doubled. For the report the CDC compiled data from several surveys among people aged 10 to 25, and these are their findings:

Only half of girls and just 35 percent of boys ages 18 and 19 had discussed methods of birth control with a parent, yet more than 80 percent of both boys and girls reported that they had learned to say no to sex.

Statistics indicate that lots of teens aren’t saying no. Thirty percent of 15-17 year old girls said they had engaged in sex, and this number rose to 70.6 percent among 18 and 19 year old girls. Boys shared similar statistics, with 31.6 percent of boys aged 15 to 17 engaging in sex, and 64.6 percent of 18 and 19 year old boys. On a rather disturbing note, nearly ten percent of women ages 18 to 24 reported that their first intercourse experience was involuntary.

In 1997 the number of HIV infections in 15 to 19 year old boys was 1.3 per 100,000 cases. In 2006 that number had increased to 2.5 infections per 100,000 cases. Also on the rise were rates for syphilis in females. There were 1.5 positives per 100,000 cases in 2004 and 2.2 infections per 100,000 cases in 2006.

While many teens are learning about sex, many of the lessons tend to be abstinence-only centered, which explains why lower rates of teens have discussed birth control methods. As rates for HIV and syphilis continue to climb it is important now more than ever that teens are supplied with an expansive sex education so that they know the risks of sexual intercourse and how to prevent them.

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