NEWS AND TRENDS



Guidelines for A Girl’s First Gynecological Exam Have Changed

A teenage girl should visit a gynecologist between ages 13 and 15, according to the current recommendation by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
This initial visit doesn’t necessarily have to include a pelvic exam and Pap smear. In the recent past — in fact, only about two years ago — young women were told to start getting Pap smears, in order to detect cervical cancer, at 18 or when they became sexually active.

But it is now clear that cervical cancer is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the human papilloma virus, or HPV. It takes three years for the virus to cause the cellular mutations that result in cancer. So the old recommendation of when to begin Pap smear testing has changed. This testing should start either at age 21 or three years after the start of sexual activity.

So, for a young teenager who is not sexually active, her first visit to a gynecologist need not include a Pap smear. But other important health issues should be addressed at this critical juncture between adolescence and adulthood.

A 1995 survey showed that women 25 or younger waited a median of 22 months between their first sexual experience and their first visit to a clinician. The longer the wait to see a gynecologist, the more likely a woman is to end up with a sexually transmitted disease or a pregnancy.

Unfortunately, many adolescents do not perceive any negative consequences of sexual activity, believing they are immune to disease and pregnancy. It is up to parents and doctors to change this sense of “it won’t happen to me.”

Source: Dr. Judith Reichman, "Today" show contributor, Nov. 23, 2004

Abstinence Education Funds Hit Record Levels in Congressional Bill

President Bush in his State of the Union speech in January asked for Congress to significantly increase abstinence education funding in the next budget. With the omnibus Congressional spending bill just passed by Congress, he's getting his wish.

The final version of the bill approved by both the House and Senate included just over $104 million for the community-based abstinence education grants. That's a 39% increase beyond the $70 million that was approved in the fiscal year 2004 version of the bill.

The total funding for abstinence programs under the bill rises to $173 million, another record level, with the rest of the funds sent to states in block grants for public abstinence education programs. In his State of the Union speech, President Bush asked that funding for federal abstinence programs be doubled now and tripled by 2005.

Bush said he wanted the extra funding "so schools can teach this fact of life: Abstinence for young people is the only certain way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases."

Source: Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com Editor, November 22, 2004.

Top Reasons Teens Give for Having Sex...

1. Peer/social pressure
2. It feels good
3. Pressure from partner
4. No longer a virgin, so what's it matter?
5. Lack of understanding about real love
6. Rebellion
7. Curiosity
8. An expression of love & a response to the need to be loved

Source: Lewis Harris Poll

Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted disease, which can damage a woman’s reproductive organs. Even though symptoms of chlamydia are usually mild or absent, serious complications that cause irreversible damage, including infertility, can occur “silently” before a woman ever recognizes a problem.

Publish Date: 10/12/2004 Onlypunjab.com