World News and Trends: STD crisis in America
America's promiscuous lifestyle is causing a drastic rise in STD levels.
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) continue to plague America. For example, "the U.S. syphilis rate rose for the seventh straight year in 2007, driven by a continual surge in cases among homosexual and bisexual men, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] said on Wednesday . . . Homosexual and bisexual men accounted for 64 percent of syphilis cases in 2007" (Reuters, March 12, 2008).
CDC authorities are concerned about the increased risk of those already afflicted with syphilis being more susceptible to contracting the AIDS virus and more likely to pass it on it to others. CDC epidemiologist Dr. Hillard Weinstock stated, "Syphilis can increase the likelihood of HIV transmission from two to fivefold."
Dr. Weinstock also stated the obvious: "Having multiple sex partners and other high-risk behaviors, like not using condoms, do put you at a higher risk for HIV and syphilis." Of course, condoms are not true safeguards against disease transmission, while premarital abstinence and monogamous marriage are.
Young women are very much at high risk from STDs as well. An AP report stated that "at least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease," with human papillomavirus [HPV}, a virus that causes cervical cancer, by far the most common (March 11, 2008).
Research indicates that nearly half of sexually active teenage girls are infected with an STD at any one time. (Sources: Associated Press, Reuters.)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: May - June 2008
Course Content
Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
