Special Focus: Surveillance for Sexually Transmitted Diseases

During the 1980s, an increasing proportion of adolescent women reported that they engaged in premarital sexual intercourse (1 ). Consequently, an increasing number of adolescents were at a higher risk of acquiring a sexually transmitted infection during that time period. To determine rates and examine trends of sexually transmitted infections among adolescents, we analyzed data for reported cases of gonorrhea and primary and secondary syphilis among 10- to 19-year-olds for 1981 through 1991.