Using the Web for HIV Partner Notification

Partner Notification Is Important Step in Slowing the Epidemic

Partner notification is an important way of preventing the spread of STDs. Once someone knows they may have been exposed to an infection, they can get tested and prevent spreading it to anyone else. But telling a partner -- either a current or former one -- can be difficult. In this age of the Internet and the electronic frontier, email and other forms of communicating can get around the need for face-to-face contact. While this may not be the most eloquent way of informing a partner, it's still better than not telling them at all. If email is not private enough, there are also web sites, such as ISIS, that allow you to notify a partner anonymously. Let's take a look:

Easier Way to Inform Others

The goal of HIV and STD prevention services is to halt HIV transmission and STD exposure. A large part of those prevention services is partner notification. While it sounds easy enough, partner notification can be the most difficult thing a person has to do. Imagine telling your wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, or partner you have been diagnosed with gonorrhea. You can guess what questions and emotions that disclosure would cause. Now imagine telling the new love in your life you have unknowingly exposed them to HIV. As you can imagine, such a conversation would be awkward and filled with fear, anger and betrayal. These types of discussions are so difficult, in fact, that people frequently choose not to get tested or notify anyone at all, for fear of the reaction they may receive. While this is understandable, it can have a huge negative impact on public health.

ISIS: Partner Notification Using the Web

To make STD and HIV notification easier, an online company has developed a method of partner notification using the Internet, taking the face-to-face awkwardness out of the equation. Experts hope that by making notification easier and less uncomfortable, people will be more likely to notify those partners they may have exposed and in doing so, help slow the spread of HIV and STDs.

ISIS allows people to send an electronic e-card in order to notify a sexual partner or needle sharer they may have exposed that person to an STD or HIV. For instance, say a young man is diagnosed with chlamydia, a common STD. Because he and his ex-girlfriend had unprotected sex prior to his being diagnosed, he needs to tell her she may have been exposed to chlamydia unknowingly. As you can imagine, this is not a conversation he is anxious to have and he may not even be in regular contact with her anymore. While face-to-face notification is probably best, using ISIS's website, at least notification can be done simply by sending an e-card.

Is Web-Based Partner Notification the Right Thing to Do?

I know what a lot of you are thinking: Is it ethical to notify someone of such a serious issue by e-mail? Shouldn't the person have enough courage and common decency to face the person they put at risk? In an ideal world, notification should probably be face-to-face. However, this is not a perfect world. Some would even suggest that putting people face-to-face could be a risky proposition. Emotions may run high and could even escalate to violence in some circumstances. An e-card system does offer another option for those situations where partner notification may be too difficult for the face-to-face encounter. And in the end, the goal is to make sure partner notification occurs and the person exposed gets tested. If Web-based partner notification makes that happen then ethical or not, it should be considered a viable option.

The InSPOT e-card site currently serves several major cities in the U.S. as well as cities in Canada and Romania. In addition to e-cards the site offers safer sex resources, HIV prevention information and testing and treatment locations in the event you get a partner notification e-card yourself.