Tuesday 6 January, 2009More teens are mouthing off

More and more teenagers report having oral sex, even though many have never had intercourse, and more are indulging in anal sex.

According to medical records, between 1994 and 2004, the number of young people from 12 to 25 years old who reported having oral sex doubled among males (from 16 percent to 32 percent) and more than doubled among females (from 14 percent to 38 percent).

Dr. Emily Erbelding, of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, said that rectal sex had also increased among young women, but it was a lot less common than oral sex, only rising from 3 percent to 5.5 percent.

Dr. Erbelding said that, although there may be a general feeling that oral sex is safer than intercourse, both oral and anal sex can result in the transmission of disease. Clinicians need to educate young people in general about the relative risks for different types of STDs for various sexual behaviors.

"A urine test is not going to pick up gonorrhea or chlamydia that might have been acquired through rectal or oral sex," she said, noting that gonorrhea is the more significant infection for oral sex.