A Jan. 24 Reuters news agency report said researchers found a chain of 288 one-to-one sexual relationships at a high school in the U.S. Midwest, meaning the teenager at the end of the chain may have had direct sexual contact with only one person, but indirect contact with 286 others.

Sociologist James Moody, who led the Ohio State University study, said: "They might know that their partner had a previous partner. But they don't think about the fact that this partner had a previous partner, who had a partner, and so on."

This means that teens need a different approach to sexual health education and especially prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, the researchers said. Abstinence before marriage and fidelity afterward is certainly the safest approach to sexual behavior!