Early sexual initiation among Dominican adolescents is not only leading to an increase in teenage pregnancies but is also resulting in an increase in sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), previously only seen in adults.
The STDs include syphilis, chlamydia, genital herpes, venereal warts, thrush, trichomoniasis and HIV.
In 2013, the STD department at the Dr. Humberto Bogaert Diaz Dermatology and Skin Surgery Unit diagnosed 3,244 cases of STIs of which 1,515 were in people between the ages of 10 and 24.
According to Santo Rosario, director of the Integrated Guidance and Research Center (COIN), syphilis is now more prevalent than HIV. This was borne out by a study by the Office of the Control of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS (DIGECITSS), which looked at high-risk groups such as sex workers, homosexuals and transsexuals in several areas of the country and discovered that syphilis affected between 9 and 13% of these segments and was as high as 16% in Santiago and Puerto Plata.
According to DIGECITSS director Dr. Ernesto Feliz Baez, HIV affected between 3.6 and 6.9% of the group, Hepatitis B 0.3 to 4.3%, Hepatitis C from 0 to 2.2%, chlamydia up to 20% in some areas, trichomoniasis 7.8% and gonorrhea 6.2%.
Victor Terrero, director of the National Council for HIV and AIDS (CONAVHSIDA) said that they had conducted a nationwide survey and the increase in young people with STDs is alarming and is the result of early sexual relations.
He said that in the 1980s they used to find pre-cancerous cells in women usually over the age of 35 but that they were now common in women under the age of 20, many having to have hysterectomies.
The experts all called for sex education in schools and for families to instill the right values in their children.
http://www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2014/6/24/327118/Las-infecciones-sexuales-aumentan-en-los-jovenes