According to a study released on Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about one in four teenage girls in the United States has at least one sexually transmitted disease, the Associated Press/FoxNews.com reports (foxnews.com, 3/11). The study also found that this rate was much higher among black girls, with nearly half of them having contracted an STD.

The study followed 834 girls between the ages of 14 to 19 who participated in a 2003-04 federal health survey. The AP reports that of those girls, the cervical cancer-causing human papillomavirus affected 18 percent, chlamydia affected 4 percent, trichomoniasis affected 2.5 percent and herpes simplex virus affected 2 percent.

While HIV was not included in the study, girls with one or more STDs are at a higher risk for infection.

“High STD rates among young women, particularly African-American young women, are clear signs that we must continue developing ways to reach those most at risk,” says Dr. John Douglas, director of the CDC’s STD prevention division.