Half of the 19 million people infected with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the United States each year are young people, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed.
Among those with STDs in the US, herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) has been contracted by one in six . While the rate has remained stable since the last survey, its pattern over the last 12 years has been characterised by decline.
"This stabilisation in herpes rates follows a period of declining prevalence, down from 21 percent for the years 1988 to 1994," La'Shan Taylor, an officer with the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service and author of the report, said.
The picture painted of general STD infection was not optimistic, with certain social and sexual groups hit particularly hard and ignorance about the conditions adding to the problem.
Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, said: "Young women, African Americans, and gay and bisexual men are especially hard hit. It is unacceptable that STDs remain such a widespread public health problem in the United States."
The new findings were based on data from the 2005 to 2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
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