Chlamydia Makes Men Infertile

Pilot program found that 13% of youths had chlamydia, gonorrhea

(NEWSER) - All DC high school students will be offered testing for sexually-transmitted diseases, the Washington Post reports. The move follows a pilot program at eight schools last year in which 13% of 3,000 students tested positive for STDs, mostly chlamydia and gonorrhea. The new plan says students must watch a lecture about STDs, which make sufferers more susceptible to HIV, but can choose not to be tested. More»

Figures raise concerns after positive trends

(NEWSER) - After declining in 1991-2005, the US teen birth rate climbed in 2006 and 2007, HealthDay News reports. Crunching numbers from 2002-07, the Centers for Disease Control found a number of trends had flatlined or worsened after a period of improvement.

• 2004 saw 745,000 pregnancies among females under 20, including 16,000 among girls 10 to 14 years old.
• One-third of adolescents had no birth-control education before age 18.

Doctors worry number of hidden cases could be much higher

(NEWSER) - Known cases of chlamydia in the US have topped a million for the first time, with the highest rates among adolescent girls, USA Today reports. Under-reporting of the sexually transmitted disease means the real number could be nearly three times higher. Syphilis and gonorrhea are also on the rise, partly due to antibiotic-resistant superbugs. More»

Infants born this year will be lucky, successful, wanna-be parents believe

(NEWSER) - The dragon is one of the luckiest and most powerful signs in the Chinese zodiac, and people born in the year of the dragon—which runs from today to Feb. 9, 2013—are supposed to be strong and successful. So many Chinese and Chinese-Americans are going to extraordinary lengths to ensure they have a baby born this year, reports the Wall Street Journal . One Los Angeles-based fertility clinic says it has seen a 250% increase in business in January from people of Chinese heritage, and an egg-donation clinic in Beverly Hills has also seen a 250% jump in egg contracts. More»

STD mutating so fast that antibiotics can't keep up

(NEWSER) - The clap is mutating so quickly that there is a real danger that it will become incurable unless new treatments are developed, British doctors warn. The bacterium that causes gonorrhea—the second most common STD in the US—is remarkably adaptable and has proven resistant to the primary drug used to treat gonorrhea in 20% of UK cases last year, the BBC reports. In 2005, that number was zero. More»