Elizabeth Miller is a member of a committee that just finished an 18-month study on public health in Arlington County, Va.
As a public health professional and an Arlington resident, she said it was hard to believe the study's findings.
The study, known as Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships or MAPP, found that from 2002 to 2007 there was a 19 percent increase in cases of Chlamydia and a more than 200 percent increase in cases of syphilis.
The study also found that more than half of Arlington 12th graders are sexually active, but only two-thirds reported using condoms.
Sexual education in Arlington Public Schools should be expanded to combat this trend, according to the study. The Virginia Department of Health is requiring all jurisdictions in the Commonwealth to conduct their own MAPP study.
Arlington is the first area to have completed its study.
David Schultz reports...
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