Sexual & Reproductive Health

Annually, one in four teens contracts a sexually transmitted infection (STI) such as human papillomavirus (HPV), gonorrhea, chlamydia, or herpes. Many people don’t know that they’re infected because they have no symptoms. Even if someone is asymptomatic, he or she may still pass the infection to a partner. Sexually transmitted infections also facilitate the transmission of HIV; if a person with an STI is exposed to the HIV virus, he or she is more likely to become infected with HIV than someone without an STI. Sexually transmitted infections may also lead to complications in women, including pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, infertility, and chronic pelvic pain. Some types of persistent HPV infection, left untreated, can cause cervical cancer in women and other cancers as well as genital warts in men and women.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes Aids, is a pathogen that attacks the body’s immune system. HIV is passed from one person to another through unprotected anal, vaginal and oral sex; sharing needles; from a mother to her baby during or after childbirth, and through breastfeeding. HIV is not transmitted through casual contact such as shaking hands, hugging, or sharing bathroom facilities. In the United States, half of all new HIV infections occur in people under age 25. Sexual contact is the primary mode of transmission in adolescents. Most HIV-infected adolescent males are infected through sex with men. Most adolescent females infected with HIV were exposed through heterosexual contact. African-American and Hispanic adolescents have been disproportionately affected by the HIV/Aids epidemic.

Additional Resources

Teen pregnancy

Human papillomavirus (HPV) & cervical cancer