From the ABC News website, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that after years of declining numbers, teenage birth rates and occurrences of STD infections are on the rise:
* About one-third of adolescents hadn’t received instruction on methods of birth control before age 18.
* In 2004, there were about 745,000 pregnancies among females younger than age 20. This included an estimated 16,000 pregnancies among girls aged 10 to 14.
* Syphilis cases among young people aged 15 to 24 have increased in both males and females in recent years.
* In 2006, about one million young people aged 10 to 24 were reported to have chlamydia, gonorrhea or syphilis. Nearly one-quarter of females aged 15 to 19, and 45 percent of females aged 20 to 24 had a human papillomavirus (HPV) infection during 2003-2004.
* From 1997 to 2006, rates of AIDS cases among males aged 15 to 24 increased.
* In 2006, the majority of new diagnoses of HIV infection among young people occurred among males and those aged 20 to 24.
* From 2004 to 2006, about 100,000 females aged 10 to 24 visited a hospital emergency department for nonfatal sexual assault, including 30,000 females aged 10 to 14.
