Correction/Clarification: (Published June 4, 2002) In our story Saturday about the increase in certain types of sexually transmitted diseases among Allegheny County high school and middle school students, we said that syphilis of the throat was on the rise. The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, which made that assertion last week, now says it did so in error and that it should have cited a rise in gonorrhea of the throat.
The number of Allegheny County high school and middle school children with reported cases of two sexually transmitted diseases -- gonorrhea and chlamydia -- is on a steep incline, according to figures released yesterday by the Health Department.
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| | | Phone number, Web site For more information about sexually transmitted diseases, call the Family Health Council hotline at 800-215-7494; or check the teen page on the Sexuality Information and Education Council Web site at www.siecus.org/teen/
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Child health officials locally and across the country also believe that cases of other sexually transmitted diseases that aren't as closely tracked by health agencies -- such as genital warts -- are on the rise, too.
The 597 cases of gonorrhea among 10- to 19-year-olds in 2001 represent an increase of more than 28 percent over 2000. There were 1,426 reported cases of chlamydia in the same age group -- a jump of 20 percent over the previous year.
Because cases of teen pregnancy generally have declined over the same period, some experts have concluded that teens aren't having standard-issue vaginal sex.
"They've developed this very creative way of thinking about sex," said Toni Felice, associate research director of the Family Health Council in Western Pennsylvania. "Anal sex is on the rise and oral sex is on the rise. They can't get pregnant and they think they can't get diseases."
Felice and other experts have noticed an increase in genital warts in the throat and on the face due to oral sex. gonorrhea of the throat also is being detected more often, said Adrienne Verrilli, director of communications for the New York-based Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States.
Unlike syphilis and some other sexually transmitted diseases, cases of genital warts don't have to be reported by medical personnel, so complete statistics aren't available. But the Centers for Disease Control estimates that 15 percent of people ages 15 to 49 are infected with genital warts, and that 14 percent of college females become infected each year.
Three million teens in the United States are expected to be infected this year with a sexually transmitted disease, according to the sexuality information council.
"It's spreading because there's no awareness," said Mona Lisa Metellus, lead peer educator for the Family Health Council Peer Education Program in Allegheny County. Metellus, 20, and other young people visit high schools and middle schools to teach students about sexual issues.
Depending on what they're allowed to discuss in a particular school, the peer educators can explain to youths that diseases can be transmitted just as easily through oral sex as they can through vaginal intercourse. Infection is spread through any bodily fluid and also can enter the bloodstream through a break in the skin or mouth tissue. They recommend the use of condoms during all types of sex.
That's the kind of information that young teens and pre-teens often don't have. "They know about a lot of things, like oral sex and anal sex, but they don't have their facts right," said Metellus.
Add that to the common mind-set among many teens that they're immortal, and you have a major health threat, said Nancy Commella, communications director for the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force.
Because of advances in medication that can be used to treat even a deadly disease like AIDS, "young people don't see it as a great health threat," Commella said. "The young people who are growing up now did not grow up when people were constantly dying of AIDS."
Verrilli and others also blamed an increase in "abstinence-only" programs for sending incomplete messages about sexual activity.
"We're not talking about sexuality in its broader picture" in programs that focus only on abstaining from sex, said Verrilli. She's heard students who say, "My teacher says condoms don't work. So they have oral sex instead and no one's told them that oral sex is sex."
Damion Wilson, peer education program supervisor for the Family Health Council, added that students are more inclined to try to prevent pregnancy rather than diseases. And even if they're somewhat aware of the danger of being infected with a sexually transmitted disease, they become complacent if there aren't any outward signs of medical problems.
"They'll say, 'I don't feel any burning, it must be OK,'" said Wilson.
But with many STDs, there are no outward signs, or the signs appear when the disease has become advanced.
Chlamydia and gonorrhea are especially sneaky diseases that only occasionally reveal their presence through symptoms such as a discharge from the penis or vagina. But chlamydia "can be especially dangerous for young girls," said Dave Zazac, a spokesman for the Allegheny County Health Department. It can cause sterility in both girls and boys, and can be spread by the mother to a newborn baby, he noted.
If untreated, gonorrhea can cause arthritis-like symptoms and heart problems as well as sterility, Zazac said. Genital warts have been linked to cervical cancer in several studies, Felice added.
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