E-Cards Notify Sex Partners About STDs

(WebMD)  It has never been so important to check your inbox.

Four years after the launch of inSPOT.org, which allows people with sexually transmitted diseases to notify sexual partners via email, nearly 50,000 e-cards have been sent, according to an article published in PLoS Medicine.

The site is designed to increase the notification of partners - part of an overall strategy to prevent and control sexually transmitted diseases. In the U.S. there are 19 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases diagnosed each year, including 900,000 cases of chlamydia, 330,000 cases of gonorrhea, and 55,400 HIV infections, according to the PLoS Medicine article.

In 2004, the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the Internet Sexuality Information Services conducted research on gay men and men who have sex with men. Researchers concluded that while men are likely to tell their primary partners about diagnoses, they are not as likely to inform casual partners.

The study showed that men overwhelmingly said they would inform casual partners if there were a convenient and anonymous way to do so. The San Francisco Department of Public Health and the Internet Sexuality Information Services then partnered to launch inSPOT. It has since been expanded to other parts of the country and now targets heterosexuals as well.

The email service of inSPOT allows users to choose whether they want to include their own email addresses or not. E-cards include links to information about where and how to get tested. So far, more than 30,000 people have sent over 49,500 cards. In 2007, 28.5 percent of recipients clicked through the link for testing information.

In 2006 and 2007, e-cards were sent because of these STDs:

15.4% of e-cards were sent for gonorrhea

14.9% for syphilis

11.6% for chlamydia

9.3% for HIV

48.8% for other STDs (such as trichomoniasis , viral hepatitis, pubic lice or "crabs," and others)

By Caroline Wilbert
Reviewed by Louise Chang
©2005-2008 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved

[deep_jeepn]

If you give someone a STD it shouldn''t be convenient or anonymous. This is just making it acceptable for people to be irresponsible and spread disease.

[bflippens]

Would you rather have a e-card notify you that you have come in contact with someone with a STD or would you prefer the disease intervention specialist from your local health department come knock on your door or give you a call. People with STD''s are given options when it comes to partner notification, they can do it themselves, have a health department employee contact the partners, or they can co a combination of both. The most important fact here is that people who have come in contact with someone who has a communicable disease needs to be notified in the most confidential manner possible.

[lastdance128]

Nothing like a Little Civil Rights Violation _

To file a Fraudulent report and give : The Names of People in order to :
Purposely and Intentionally Destroy a : Personal Reputation out of Vindictiveness

A Perfect example of : The Political Criminal : FBI Profiler

[u-r-right]

I''d like to see the nasty reply e-mails from the victims/recipients of said e-cards. LOL

[longtree-2009]

Anonymous emails is a cowardly method and should not be allowed when it comes to public health. Wonder if anyone will sue inSPOT for encouraging or sanctioning criminal behavior. There some individuals who knowingly pass STDs onto others out of anger that someone gave it to them.