Online Dating Dangers

There's a lot to be said for online dating. It gives you the opportunity to expand the pool of people you could potentially meet and fall in love with. It allows people to talk and learn about each other in a low stress environment. It allows people with similar interests to congregate and meet fellow fanciers from all over the world. There's also a bit of a downside to online dating, however, at least from the perspective of sexual health professionals. Namely, the fact that it makes acquiring anonymous sex a heck of a lot easier. Alabama public health officials have seen a huge upswing in syphilis cases involving anonymous sex arranged on the Internet or in nightclubs. Why are these cases so much more worrisome than other syphilis cases? Because where there's no name, there's no way to trace the contact. Contact tracing is an incredibly important tool in stamping out STDs, a goal that should be reachable because STDs are so hard to pass on, but the more that people don't know who they're sleeping with, or won't tell, the more these diseases continue to spread.

• STDs You Should Know About
• Contact Tracing
• Syphilis Overview