Scary STD stats prompt extreme moves
D.C. is the latest district planning to offer tests for STDs to all high school students in the coming school year.
The move was prompted by a pilot program conducted at eight high schools that found that 13% of 3,000 students (that’s 390 kids) tested positive for an STD, mostly gonorrhea or chlamydia.
D.C. joins a growing number of school districts that test adolescents for STDs. The program requires students to attend a lecture about STDs, but they can opt out of providing a urine sample for the test. All 50 states and the District allow minors older than 12 to be screened for STDs without parental consent.
STDs are of particular concern because they increase the risk of contracting HIV. AIDS is at epidemic proportions in the nation’s capital which also has the highest rate of AIDS in the nation.
D.C. Council member David A. Catania said he has not heard much community opposition to the testing. "In this regard, I find our population to be extremely secure," he said. "I'm not condoning this behavior. I don't think young people are equipped for the consequences of engaging in sex, but the fact is that they do."
So why now?
A 2007 study of the D.C. public school system found that:
- 60% of high school students reported having had intercourse,
- 30% of middle school students reported having had intercourse.
- 20% of high schoolers said they’d had sex with four or more partners
- 12% of middle school students report having had sex with three or more partners
Chlamydia is the most commonly reported disease in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 1.1 million new cases were reported in 2007, up from 1 million the previous year.
Because the condition is mainly asymptomatic, most cases of chlamydia go undiagnosed. The CDC estimates that there are actually about 2.8 million new cases of chlamydia in the country each year, indicating that more than 1 million are undiagnosed. Symptoms include an inflamed pelvis and chronic pelvic pain, similar to symptoms for gonorrhea.
