Public health professionals remain quite concerned about rising rates of HIV infection among gay and bi-sexual men, in and around big cities in the U.S. Part of the problem: Internet sites allow MSM (men who have sex with men) to hook up with total strangers at the drop of a jimmy-hat. ONE problem here, though, is that jimmy-hats (condoms) often don't get used, especially if drugs like methamphetamine are part of the mix. HIV or other sexually-transmitted diseases can be passed from one MSM to another during these fly-by-night encounters, but the disease transmision potential may not be understood until later on, when symptoms appear and a diagnosis is made. How is the possible infectee to be notified? Most often he is not, at all.

That's supposed to change now, with an anonymous e-mail service sponsored by your local or county public health department. Today's L.A. Times:

In an age when many search for sex on the Internet, Los Angeles County health officials on Wednesday unveiled a controversial tool to fight the spread of HIV and other diseases: a website that helps send anonymous e-mail warning people that they might be infected. Through the website, inSPOTLA.org, users can send a free, unsigned electronic postcard with a standard message or a personal note, thus avoiding an awkward conversation that many people would rather not have. The idea is to help people be more forthcoming with sexual partners so those at risk of sexually transmitted diseases get tested and practice safer sex.

The website, which anyone can use but is primarily aimed at people who seek casual sex online, is part of a broader national campaign. San Francisco launched a website in October 2004 that covered other infections, such as gonorrhea and chlamydia, which has generated about 20,000 e-mails. Only this month did it include HIV. Seattle, Philadelphia and Indiana are planning to launch inSPOT sites next year.

"It will help more people get tested early," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, public health director for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, which has invested more than $14,000 in the effort so far and plans to spend $8,000 annually on its operation. "We can get people into treatment and get them to modify their behavior."...The site, which went online in Los Angeles County on Wednesday, comes as AIDS-prevention efforts appear to have lost effectiveness, especially among gay and bisexual men.....The rising number of sexually transmitted disease infections has been linked, in part, to increasing use of the Internet in the pursuit of casual sex. At websites such as Manhunt.net and in the "casual encounters" section of Craigslist.org, a free listings site, users find dates by describing themselves and posting photos.

I think if anything, the anonymous notification service will allow potential disease-spreaders to cop a little bit of false righteousness, thinking they've done their duty. They'll then go on doing the same old stuff to new willing victims, some of whom they may bother to notify, and some from whom they'll forget or decline to even get e-mail addresses. The e-mail recipients may or may not be scared into safe sex, but the real issue here is the gay male culture of cheap thrills via serial sex, all too often combined with judgement-impairing party drugs. All the CDC data show the greatest proportion of HIV infection and AIDS are among MSMs and IDUs (injecting drug users).

Gay adults still playing the scorecard conquest game of the 1960s and 1970s, making no effort to find a lasting relationship and settle down, are at greater risk than their sybaritic heterosexual counterparts. For gay males with many casual sex partners, the certainty of emotional emptiness is compunded by the heightened risk of STDs.

Public health officers are grasping for ways to appear as if they are doing something, anything, to help save self-destructive gay males from themselves. Web sites like inSPOTLA.org not only show public health agencies are failing badly in that effort, but also hint at the limited influence of government on legal sexual behavior.

Related Rosenblog posts:

"AIDS And The Self;"

"Behavior, Not Condoms, Key In India AIDS Prevention;"

"Crystal Meth, The Internet And AIDS."

TECHNORATI TAGS: HIV, AIDS, INTERNET, STDs, E-MAIL, LOS ANGELES

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at December 15, 2005 01:38 PM