Adolescents bring unique challenges to the table. Many are at the age where speaking out loud about sex is still embarrassing. No matter how many times we reassure them that we will not inform their parents of our discussion, they are wary. And, in extreme situations, you never get to privately interview the teen because the parent refuses to leave the room.
So, when an adolescent arrives in the emergency department with abdominal pain, urinary symptoms or vaginal complaints, it is hard not to suspect and test for sexually transmitted infections, even if they deny ever having sex -- especially since the consequences of missing one of these infections can be life-threatening.
Untreated sexually transmitted infections can lead to scarring, causing infertility long before a teenage girl even considers conceiving a child, or ectopic pregnancy -- a life-threatening emergency where the pregnancy is growing outside of the uterus. The infections themselves can worsen, forming pus in the abdomen or spreading to the rest of the body, causing major illness.
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