Breaking up over e-mail is a social no-no.

But sending an e-card telling someone to get tested for STDs may be a public health courtesy.

Since 2004, a free Web site, inSpot.org has allowed users to anonymously notify their partners to get tested for STDs such as HIV, gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis.

“It’s not like you get a card and it’s, ‘Oh no, it’s a dead end,’” said Deb Levine, executive director of Internet Sexuality Information Services, a nonprofit organization. “The card leads you to regularly updated information about what you may have been exposed to.”

The health department promoted syphilis testing in the chat room through screen names and e-mails. Five years later, Internet Sexuality Information Services and the health department assembled a focus group of gay men to discuss partner notification. They found that most men told their primary partners about an STD diagnosis, “but despite good intentions, they did not tell their casual partners,” according to their report.

Their inspiration for the STD cards came from evites, an electronic invitation for parties and events. The inSPOT.org cards started with a focus on gay men, but have expanded to all sexually active people. Levine said they’d like to conduct further research to gauge the effectiveness of the e-cards.

For the complete article, please refer to http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/10/21/std.e-cards/index.html.

SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH

Dear Dr. Donohue — I just had my second pelvic exam. I am 21. The doctor told me he was going to check for infections as well as cancer, and I told him to go ahead. I have no symptoms of infection, like a discharge or any pain. It turns out I have a chlamydia infection. The doctor said it could make having children impossible. I am crushed by all this. I have had two sex partners. I asked if I should tell them, and he just shrugged his shoulders. What do I do? I am being treated.

Chlamydia  is the most common sexually transmitted, bacterial infection in the United States and Canada. More than 4 million adults, mostly between the ages of 16 and 25, come down with it yearly in the U.S. One reason why it’s so rampant is that the infection often causes no symptoms in the woman or the man.

When symptoms do occur, they consist of pelvic pain, pain on urination, vaginal discharge and painful sexual relations in women. In men, the symptoms are a discharge from the penis and painful urination. Sometimes a testicle swells and hurts.

If the infection isn’t treated with antibiotics, it can spread upward in the female genital tract and leave the ovarian ducts scarred and closed. That makes a woman infertile. It also can infect the pelvic organs to produce pelvic inflammatory disease, a painful condition often requiring hospitalization.

For the complete article, please refer to http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/lifestyle/columnists.nsf/drpauldonohue/story/4CA0F5DF43091ABD862575BE0056E907?OpenDocument

The National Chlamydia Coalition is partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to increase public awareness and screening efforts for chlamydia, the most common sexually transmitted infection in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reports. According to CDC, there were 1.1 million recorded cases of chlamydia in 2007, although experts estimate that there are twice as many cases that are not detected largely because the infection often causes few symptoms and many people go unscreened.

The infection is three times more common in women than men, which experts say could be because men eliminate it from their bodies more readily than women. Chlamydia is treatable with a single dose of antibiotics, but if left untreated, it can lead to infertility or increased risk for ectopic pregnancies in women.

CDC recommends that all sexually active women younger than age 26 be tested annually for the infection, as well as older women who have had a change of sexual partners. However, fewer than 40% of women in those groups are tested, the Journal reports.

According to the Journal, many patients do not ask to be screened for the disease because the few symptoms it causes — such as bleeding between periods, occasional vaginal discharge, pain during intercourse, pelvic pain in women, and burning upon urination in men — are common to many conditions.

The Journal reports that the issue of how minors can pay for chlamydia testing can also create barriers. All 50 states allow minors to be tested and treated for STIs without parental consent. However, if a minor’s health insurance is provided by his or her parents, a lab fee listed on an explanation of benefits report for the testing could be considered a breach of confidentiality.The results can then be sent via phone, e-mail or regular mail. Los Angeles County, Calif., in June started a similar program for female residents ages 15 to 25.

For the complete article, please refer to http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155957.php