Sexually Transmitted Diseases
What you need to know

Every year three million teens (about 1 in 4 sexually experienced teens) acquire an STD. Look below for more information on the major sexually transmitted diseases within in the United States.

What is Chlamydia?

Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by the bacterium, Chlamydia trachomatis, which can damage a woman’s reproductive organs. Even though symptoms of Chlamydia are usually mild or absent, serious complications that cause irreversible damage, including infertility, can occur “silently” before a woman ever recognizes a problem. Chlamydia also can cause discharge from the penis of an infected man.
Chlamydia is the most frequently reported bacterial sexually transmitted disease in the United States. In 2002, 834,555 chlamydial infections were reported to CDC from 50 states and the District of Columbia. Under-reporting is thought to be substantial since most people with Chlamydia are not aware of their infections and do not seek testing. Also, testing is not often done if patients are treated for their symptoms. An estimated 2.8 million Americans are infected with Chlamydia each year. Women are frequently re-infected if their sex partners are not treated. (www.cdc.gov)

• Chlamydia is more common among teens than among older men and women; in some settings, 10-29% of sexually active teenage women and 10% of teenage men tested for STDs have been found to have Chlamydia.⁸

What is Genital Herpes?

Genital herpes is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by the herpes simplex viruses type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2). Most genital herpes is caused by HSV-2. Most individuals have no or only minimal signs or symptoms from HSV-1 or HSV-2 infection. When signs do occur, they typically appear as one or more blisters on or around the genitals or rectum. The blisters break, leaving tender ulcers (sores) that may take two to four weeks to heal the first time they occur. Typically, another outbreak can appear weeks or months after the first, but it almost always is less severe and shorter than the first outbreak. Although the infection can stay in the body indefinitely, the number of outbreaks tends to decrease over a period of years. (www.cdc.gov)

• Studies have shown that genital herpes infections are common in the United States. Nationwide, at least 45 million people ages 12 and older, or one out of five adolescents and adults, have had genital HSV infection.⁹
• Between the late 1970s and the early 1990s, the number of Americans with genital herpes infection increased 30 percent. ¹⁰
• As many as 1 million new herpes infections are estimated to occur each year ¹¹ (ASHA, 1998).

What is Gonorrhea?

Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a bacterium that can grow and multiply easily in the warm, moist areas of the reproductive tract, including the cervix (opening to the womb), uterus (womb), fallopian tubes (egg canals) in women, and in the urethra (urine canal) in women and men. The bacterium can also grow in the mouth, throat, eyes, and anus. (www.cdc.gov)

• CDC estimates that more than 700,000 persons in the U.S. get new gonorrheal infections each year. Only about half of these infections are reported to CDC.
• In 2002, 351,852 cases of gonorrhea were reported to CDC at the rate of 125.0 infections per 100,000 persons.

What is Genital HPV Infection?

Genital HPV infection is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) that is caused by Human Papillomavirus (HPV). Human Papillomavirus is the name of a group of viruses that includes more than 100 different strains or types. More than 30 of these viruses are sexually transmitted, and they can infect the genital area of men and women including the skin of the penis, vulva (area outside the vagina), or anus, and the linings of the vagina, cervix, or rectum. Most people who become infected with HPV will not have any symptoms and will clear the infection on their own.

Some of these viruses are called “high-risk” types, and may cause abnormal Pap tests. They may also lead to cancer of the cervix, vulva, vagina, anus, or penis. Others are called “low-risk” types, and they may cause mild Pap test abnormalities or genital warts. Genital warts are single or multiple growths or bumps that appear in the genital area, and sometimes are cauliflower shaped. (www.cdc.gov)

• Approximately 20 million people are currently infected with HPV. ¹²
• HPV 16 and 18 cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases.
• HPV 6 and 11 cause about 90% of genital warts cases.20
• At least 50 percent of sexually active men and women acquire genital HPV infection at some point in their lives. ¹³
• By age 50, at least 80 percent of women will have acquired genital HPV infection. ¹⁴
• About 6.2 million Americans get a new genital HPV infection each year. ¹⁵

What is Syphilis?

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum. It has often been called “the great imitator” because so many of the signs and symptoms are indistinguishable from those of other diseases.

• In the United States, health officials reported over 32,000 cases of syphilis in 2002, including 6,862 cases of primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis. ¹⁶
• In 2002, half of all P&S syphilis cases were reported from 16 counties and 1 city; and most P&S syphilis cases occurred in persons 20 to 39 years of age. ¹⁷
• The incidence of infectious syphilis was highest in women 20 to 24 years of age and in men 35 to 39 years of age. ¹⁸
• Between 2001 and 2002, the number of reported P & S syphilis cases increased 12.4 percent. Rates in women continued to decrease, and overall, the rate in men was 3.5 times that in women. This, in conjunction with reports of syphilis outbreaks in men who have sex with men (MSM), suggests that rates of syphilis in MSM are increasing. ¹⁹

HIV/AIDS

What is HIV?

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is the virus that causes AIDS. This virus may be passed from one person to another when infected blood, semen, or vaginal secretions come in contact with an uninfected person’s broken skin or mucous membranes*. In addition, infected pregnant women can pass HIV to their baby during pregnancy or delivery, as well as through breast-feeding. People with HIV have what is called HIV infection. Some of these people will develop AIDS as a result of their HIV infection.

What is AIDS?

AIDS - acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, was first reported in the United States in 1981 and has since become a major worldwide epidemic. AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). By killing or damaging cells of the body's immune system, HIV progressively destroys the body's ability to fight infections and certain cancers. People diagnosed with AIDS may get life-threatening diseases called opportunistic infections, which are caused by microbes such as viruses or bacteria that usually do not make healthy people sick.
More than 830,000 cases of AIDS have been reported in the United States since 1981. As many as 950,000 Americans may be infected with HIV, one-quarter of whom are unaware of their infection. The epidemic is growing most rapidly among minority populations and is a leading killer of African-American males ages 25 to 44. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), AIDS affects nearly seven times more African Americans and three times more Hispanics than whites. (www.cdc.gov)

• The estimated number of diagnoses of AIDS through 2002 in the United States is 886,575.
• Adult and adolescent AIDS cases total 877,275 with 718,002 cases in males and 159,271 cases in females. Through the same time period, 9,300 AIDS cases were estimated in children under age 13.
• Estimated number of deaths of persons with AIDS is 501,669, including 496,354 adults and adolescents, and 5,315 children under age 15.

7 AGI, 1994, op. cit. Sex and America's Teenagers, New York: AGI, 1994, p. 38.
8 Donovan P, Testing Positive: Sexually Transmitted Disease and the Public Health Response, New York: AGI, 1993, p. 24.
9 Fleming, CDC, 1997
10 Fleming, CDC, 1997
11 ASHA, 1998
12-15 www.cdc.gov
16-19 www.cdc.gov
20 Vaccine May Help Block Cervical Cancer, Warts: Merk Drug Prevents HPV Infection in Short Term, Study. The Associated Press, 2005