April 12, 2003
Sex and the Internet
7
Internet Chatrooms and
Sexually Transmitted Disease I
Sexually Transmitted Disease I
AOL SFM4M chatroom Syphilis
“outbreak” in mid-1999:
lAOL refused to provide contact tracing information to San Francisco Department of Public Health without court order
lVoluntary contact tracing online through screen names identified additional syphilis cases (40%+ tested)
lPrivacy of chatroom users respected
lSex online obviously carries no STD risk