Interesting Facts You Might Not Have Known About Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Sexually transmitted diseases are passed from person to person through sexual contact. STDs are becoming more and more common as teenagers are having sex at much younger ages than in past generations. Here are a few facts about STDs that you might not have known before.

The most common sexually transmitted disease is genital warts with 6.2 million new cases every single year in the United States alone. Genital warts is caused by an infection known as the Human Papillomavirus or HPV for short.

The most truly shocking statistic about sexually transmitted diseases I’ve found is this:

One in four teenage girls have had, or currently have an STD, most of which are cases of genital warts.

Our future generations could be doomed if we don’t spread awareness for these diseases. The most common demographic to get an STD is as a 15-24 year old girl, according to the CDC. Sexual education taught in schools is often times not enough to prevent the spread of these diseases and it is very important for parents to talk with their children about the dangers of acquiring one of these infections.

Teenage girls, especially, need to be educated about these common infections. Genital warts is not the only infection that plagues our sexually active youth. Chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and genital herpes also spread like wild fire through unprotected skin to skin contact. These STDs can almost be considered benevolent compared to the most deadly sexually transmitted disease, AIDS.

AIDS has killed 25 million people since it’s inception in 1981 and each year in the United States, 40,000 more cases are reported. AIDS has become the largest killer in sub-saharan Africa and killed 26,000 people last year in the United States. Spreading awareness is the easiest way we can prevent future outbreaks of deadly viruses like HIV/AIDS and you can do your part just by spreading the word or telling a friend about these statistics.