Cases of sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise in the United States, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last Thursday.

More than 1.3 million cases of chlamydia were reported last year—the largest number ever reported. The number of new gonorrhea cases also increased last year—up to a total of 300,000 people infected.

The report estimated that the 19 million new cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia diagnosed in the U.S. each year cost the nation’s health-care system some $17 billion annually.

Young people were the demographic most profoundly affected. The above-mentioned 2010 study found that “even though young people aged 15–24 years represent only 25 percent of the sexually experienced population, they acquire nearly half of all new stds.”

Of course this is not surprising, considering the increasingly sexualized culture that young people are immersed in and the fact that they are commonly engaging in activities that were once taboo. Some 80 percent of unmarried college students in America are sexually active, and about two thirds of high schoolers have had sex by their senior year. In addition, today’s technological advancements—giving rise to online dating and such—have made it easier to arrange premarital hook-ups and extramarital affairs.

For more information on how to preserve your sexual health and on the God-ordained uses of sex, read “Sexual Health: What Every High School and College Student Needs to Know” by Joel Hilliker and then carefully study The Missing Dimension in Sex by Herbert W. Armstrong.