- More than
half of all people will have an STD/STI at some point in their lifetime.
(2)
- The total
estimated direct annual cost of STDs/STIs in the U.S. is $15.6 billion
[2010 US dollars]. (2)
- A national
survey of US physicians showed fewer than one-third routinely screened
patients for STDs/STIs. (2)
- One in two
sexually active persons will contract an STD/STI by age 25. (2)
- Of the
STDs/STIs that are diagnosed, only some (gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia,
hepatitis A and B) are required to be reported to state health departments
and the CDC. (2)
- It is
estimated that as many as one in five Americans have genital herpes, yet
up to 90% of those with herpes are unaware they have it. (2)
- Since 1980,
European rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis have remained
stagnant, while STD/STI rates in the US have continued to climb at an
alarming rate. (1)
- Sub-Saharan
Africa has the most serious HIV and AIDS epidemic in the world – in 2013,
an estimated 24.7 million people were living with HIV, accounting for 71%
of the global total. (3)
- South Africa
has the largest epidemic of any country - 5.9 million people are living
with HIV.(3)
- Bacterial
STDs/STIs, such as gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia are cured with
antibiotics. (5)
- Viral
STD/STIs, such as the four Hs (HIV, HPV[which causes genital warts],
herpes, and hepatitis B) have no cure, but their symptoms can be reduced
with treatment. (5)
- Hepatitis
B is the only STD that can be prevented with a vaccine. (5)
- Most people
with STDs/STIs have no symptoms at all. (5)
- The younger
people are when they have sex for the first time, the more susceptible
they become to developing an STD/STI. (6)
- An estimated
four in 10 sexually active adolescent females between the ages of 14 and
19 have an STD/STI. (7)
- In the
US, 1 of 4 new STD/STI cases occurs in teenagers. (8)
- You can get
STDs/STIs by having sex (vaginal, oral or anal), or by skin-to-skin
touching. You cannot get them from toilet seats -- that is a myth! (9)
- You can get
an STD/STI while getting a tattoo or piercing, if the instruments used for
piercing or tattooing are not sterilized or disinfected between uses. (9)
- Sperm can
live inside your uterus for up to 5 days. (9)
- Each
year there are approx. 333 million new cases of STDs/STIs worldwide. (10)
- Chlamydia is
found only in human cells, but it shares a common ancestor with plants and
has unusual plant-like traits. (10)
- Syphilis is
named after a mythological Greek shepherd named Syphilus who was cursed
with a horrible disease as a punishment for insulting the god Apollo.
Also, doctors in the late 1400s and early 1500s were so afraid of syphilis
they would not write down its name. Instead they used the Greek letter
Sigma as its symbol. (10)
- Some
STDs/STIs can be transmitted to the fetus during pregnancy and others may
be transmitted during the birth process if a woman has a STD at that time.
(11)
- Some
STDs/STIs, like Chlamydia, can impair a woman’s ability to become pregnant
(11)
- There are
tests available for all STDs/STIs, with the exception of HPV in men. There
are different tests available for different STDs/STIs .(11)
- In 2006, the CDC
estimates that 49% of U.S. pregnancies were unintended. (12)
- Condom usage tends to decline as
people grow older (13)
- Teens are more likely to report condom use than any other age group (14)
- Adults over 40 tend to use condoms least. (14)
Sources: