If some romance is in store for you this Valentine's Day, a word to the wise: Please practice safe sex. According to new government reports, there are nearly 20 million new cases of sexually transmitted infections each year in this country.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that nearly half of these new infections occur in people between ages 15 and 24.

Researchers also found that there are 110,197,000 cases of STIs in total in the United States right now, including those occurring in people who newly contracted an infection and those who have been living with an infection. Young people between ages 15 and 24 make up more than 20 percent of the overall cases of both new and established infections.

The human papillomavirus, or HPV, was the most common STI observed by the researchers -- it comprised 71 percent of all the current infections (including new and old infections), and 72 percent of new infections.

CDC epidemiologist and lead researcher of the new findings, Catherine Lindsey Satterwhite, told NBC News that the United States has "an ongoing, severe, STI epidemic."

Read more at Huffington Post