STD infection rates connected to ignorance in American youth

This is not original reporting. All information has been compiled from The Washington Post article "Findings: STD Infection Rates Linked to Ignorance" published on Feb. 25.

According to several reports, 50 percent of young Americans will get a sexually transmitted disease by age 25, possibly because they are ignorant about using protection or too embarrassed to ask for it, according to The Washington Post.

The Washington Post used the findings from Advocates for Youth, a non-profit organization fighting for sex education, and the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a sexual-health-related group, to compile the article.

According to the reports, there were 9 million new cases involving teenagers and young adults aged 15 to 24 in the year 2000 alone.

"For the 27 million young Americans under the age of 25 who have had sex, the stakes are simply too high to talk only about abstinence," said James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth.

Advocates for Youth and the Alan Guttmacher Institute used a Center for Disease Control and Prevention report from the Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health journal, and a University of North Carolina report to gather their information.

The original story can be found here.

The official website for Advocates for Youth can be found here. The Alan Guttmacher Institute's official website can be found here.