STD E-Cards: Aiding Transmission Of Information

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Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Medical Devices / Diagnostics;  Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Article Date: 21 Oct 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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A project called inSPOT (http://www.inSPOT.org) has made an innovative contribution to efforts to encourage people with sexually transmitted diseases or infections (STD or STI), and the impact is discussed in a feature released on October 20, 2008 in the open-access journal PLoS Medicine.

The notification of sexual partners of any potential exposure to an STD has been widely been practiced as a method of prevention. While this notification was traditionally done by mail, phone, or in person, enormous potential lies in the Internet as a communication tool due to its speed and privacy. In this feature, Andrew Woodruff (Internet Sexuality Information Services, Oakland, California, USA) and colleagues describe the inSPOT service, which was developed by the San Francisco Department of Public Health and Internet Sexuality Information Services in 2004.

The site sends electronic postcards (e-cards) for free to assist STD disclosure among sexual partners. The article also describes the development and rationale behind the site, and its potential implications on the prevention and treatment of STDs. The authors finally call for more investigation into this matter. "Future research efforts should be directed towards comprehensive evaluation to establish the effectiveness of inSPOT in increasing STD partner notification and testing and to assess its impact on reducing disease transmission."

inSPOT: The first online STD partner notification system using electronic postcards.
Levine D, Woodruff AJ, Mocello AR, Lebrija J, Klausner JD
PLoS Med 5(10): e213.
doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050213
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Written by Anna Sophia McKenney
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