The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is constantly coming out with new studies seemingly designed to scare people away from having non-monogamous sex. Even if the study discovers that the rates of teen pregnancies or STIs have decreased, the CDC is here to remind you that sex is still dangerous.
The CDC's latest study found some interesting trends in terms of sex acts and sexuality. The results were based on the 2006-2008 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), which anonymously sampled 13,459 men and women, 15 to 44. However, before we can get to a few of the study's key findings, here is a brief reminder of STIs rates in the U.S., courtesy of the CDC: 19 million new cases of STIs occur each year. Half of these infections occur among 15 to 24-year-olds, with the direct medical cost of these diseases for this group estimated at $6.5 billion in 2000. Approximately 50,000 Americans are diagnosed with HIV each year, and over 1 million Americans are currently living with HIV. Per person, the medical costs for HIV medication average $20,000 annually. In 2008, 86% of HIV cases were acquired via sex: 54% were transmitted by same-sex sexual contact among males, and 32% by heterosexual sexual contact.
