Daily HealthBeat TipA date with dangerFrom the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat. Date violence's dangers continue after the violence. A study finds sexually transmitted disease is about three times more common among teen-age girls who were victims of date violence than among girls who were not victimized. Michele Decker of the Harvard School of Public Health found the link using data from a surveillance system administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her findings are in the journal Pediatrics. Decker says abusive males are more likely to carry disease � which makes infection more likely for the victims, who may not have control over sex: "They're not able to determine when and how � and with what protection � sex with these partners is occurring." (five seconds) Decker says girls can seek help from battered women's programs. But she says the best approach is prevention � making sure boys know sexual violence is wrong. Learn more at www.hhs.gov. HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss. |
Last revised: October 24, 2005