Still, she called the CDC study "critical information for parents" and encouraged them to use this knowledge to be sure their daughters are being properly screened and taught about protection and prevention. She said parents need to know that the average age of a girl's first sexual intercourse is 15.
"Parents do not come with a manual to know exactly how to discuss this with their kids," she said. "This is the opportunity to do it. You just open up the door for communication." She said doctors are there to also have these conversations with teenage girls.
There are 19 million sexually transmitted diseases in the United States - costing the health care system $15 billion a year - and almost half occur among the 14 to 25 age group, said Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. CDC officials called STDs a public health epidemic and said efforts must be made to improve screening, education and other prevention strategies for sexually active teens.
"While the burden of STD is significant, it doesn't have to be," said Dr. John Douglas, director of the CDC's division of STD prevention.
He said the report highlights "extraordinary racial disparities" among those with sexually transmitted diseases. African-Americans make up 13 percent of the population, but make up 46 percent of the chlamydia cases, for example. He said the higher rates of infection do not necessarily mean there is more risky behavior among black teens, just that the teens are more likely to come into contact with a person with an STD because there is so much of it in the community.
The higher rates could be because of limited access to health care, which may result in delays in seeking care or in fewer visits to doctors for screening, he said.
Dr. Avril Melissa Houston, medical director of the Baltimore Health Department's division of youth and families, said that teenage girls are biologically more susceptible to sexually transmitted infections and that their bodies change as they become adults to make them less so. She said teens are also more likely to spread diseases around their social networks through short-lived relationships.
While abstinence is the safest option, she said teens need to be told about consistent and correct condom use, which can prevent many sexually transmitted infections.
Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, Howard County's health commissioner, said abstinence-only education isn't always realistic.
