One-Quarter of Teen Girls Have STDs

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.

Mandated for all girls in some states, HPV vaccine fails to deliver

(NEWSER) - Pharma behemoth Merck is defending what it touted as a miracle cervical-cancer vaccine against charges of ineffectiveness. Merck lobbied states to mandate Gardasil for young girls—Texas and Virginia did—and got a glowing endorsement from the CDC. But new studies show that it works only to prevent sexually-transmitted HPV, a cause of cancerous cervical growths, not the cancer itself. More»

Doctors recommend HPV vaccine for boys, not just girls

(NEWSER) - Oral sex has been linked to throat cancer in baby boomers , but a rising number of cancers of the head and neck in young men is leading doctors to urge boys as well as girls to get the controversial HPV vaccine . “This kind of cancer traditionally affects males who have been smoking and drinking all their life,” says one doctor, but now “HPV cancer we are seeing in younger patients who have never smoked.” More»

12- and 13-year-old girls first targeted by program that could reach 2M by 2011

(NEWSER) - The UK kicked off a campaign to give 12- and 13-year-old girls the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, the Times of London reports. Schools will begin offering the shot, which is not mandatory, this week. The government estimates that it will vaccinate over 2 million girls by 2011. Beside official programs, the campaign also includes youth-oriented advertising. More»

Docs report patients fainting after stinging injection

(NEWSER) - Recipients of the new HPV vaccine are reporting that it's more painful than regular vaccines because not only does the needle hurt, but the vaccine itself stings as it's injected. Doctors have reported teenage girls fainting when getting the shot of Gardasil, although that may be in part because teenagers are more prone to fainting after injections than other age groups. More»