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Britain - Little Children
Being Treated For VD
Helen Rumbelow - Medical Reporter
http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/08/17/timnwsnws01031.html
8-16-00
 
 
Children as young as 11 are being treated for sexually transmitted diseases, it was revealed yesterday.
 
The cases occurred in Nottingham, which is becoming known as a sexual disease blackspot, although the number of teenagers with sexually transmitted diseases is increasing rapidly across England. Nottingham has twice the national average of gonorrhoea at 120 per 100,000 as compared to 50 per 100,000. One in eight teenage girls in the area carry chlamydia.
 
Dr Richard Slack, consultant in communicable diseases for the Trent health region, said that Nottingham was a victim of students with a hedonistic lifestyle. "Nottingham has a large number of students and a vibrant nightlife, but there is a down side to that," Dr Slack said. "Alcohol often means people may not be as careful as they should be."
 
In one Nottingham clinic children as young as 11 and 12 have been treated for sexually transmitted diseases, he said.
 
"We found that 12 per cent of all girls under the age of 20, were testing positive for chlamydia. Across the national population we would expect something like 3 to 4 per cent," Dr Slack said.
 
"Research has shown that the age of sexual activity drops by about five years with every generation. So 30 years ago the average age for first having sex was 20 or 21, that is now 14 or 15 especially for girls."
 
The number of cases of chlamydia in England has almost doubled since 1995. The rise has been in teenagers, among whom chlamydia cases have risen by a fifth in the last year.
 
Gonorrhoea in England has also gone up by 56 per cent since 1995, again with the largest rise among teenagers. Cases in teenage boys have gone up by 39 per cent in the last year, 24 per cent in teenage girls.

 
 
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