*STDS are reportedly on the rise and according to a recent study, there may be a link to people being diagnosed with sexually transmitted diseases to online dating.
According to the Chicago Tribune, “an Oct. 8 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that combined cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia reached an all-time high, according to 2018 statistics.”
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Sunday that STDs are at their highest rates in the state in decades.
Gerald Hasty, program coordinator for the Hawaii Health Department’s Harm Reduction Services Branch, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that as folks engage in more intimate encounters with individuals they meet through online, it might contribute to the increased cases of STDs.
“More partners, more chances to get infections,” he said.
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Increase in sexually transmitted diseases in Hawaii to the highest numbers reported in decades can be linked to the prevalence of online dating, officials say. https://t.co/UikZjOMzpt
— ABC News (@ABC) October 14, 2019
Via Chicago Tribune:
The CDC listed multiple factors driving the increase, from drug use and poverty, which reduce access to treatment, to decreased condom use and cuts to programs that provide screenings and follow-up care.
Officials in Illinois are working to reduce record numbers. In August, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the city’s Department of Public Health launched a task force to help reduce syphilis cases. According to city stats, young adults were most likely to be diagnosed with HIV; people ages 20-29 represented 38% of new diagnoses. Non-Hispanic black residents were the most frequently diagnosed population among all reportable sexually transmitted infections.
“While we don’t know if dating apps are responsible for the rise in STD diagnoses, we do know that many people use dating apps to find and meet potential sexual partners,” a CDC representative said in an email. “Regardless of how sexual partners are connecting, the STD prevention strategies are the same. It’s imperative that anyone who is sexually active — including people who use dating apps — talk openly about STDs, get regularly tested and treated if needed and reduce risk by using condoms.”
Meanwhile, Brian Mustanski, director of Northwestern’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing, is skeptical that a rise in online dating is linked to the rise in reported STD cases.
“We find that in general, people tend to be safer with people they’ve met through an app, particularly because they feel like they don’t know that person as well as if they met them through a friend,” he said.
“Perhaps people are more likely to meet partners, but they’re not doing more risky things with their partners,” Mustanski added.
As co-director of the Third Coast Center for AIDS Research, Mustanski works to educate young people about the importance of testing and treatment.
“People need to be tested for STIs in all the parts of their bodies that they’re having sexual contact,” he said. A urine test might not catch everything that testing the throat or rectum could.
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