-Caveat Lector-
Syphilis outbreak traced to Internet chat room
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Health officials tracking an outbreak of
syphilis cases have followed the virus into cyberspace, identifying an
Internet chat room as ground zero for infection.
Jeffrey Klausner, director of the sexually transmitted disease unit at the
San Francisco Department of Health, said investigators quizzing the last
seven homosexual men reporting syphilis infections were surprised to find
that all seven found their most recent sexual contacts through a chat room on
America Online : SFM4M, or San Francisco Men-For-Men.
The outbreak rang alarm bells for Klausner, who noted that venereal diseases
like syphilis can boost a person's vulnerability to HIV, the virus which
causes AIDS.
Clearly, the remaining visitors in the SFM4M needed to be warned -- but how
to fight a cyberspace health threat in a chat room where anonymity is prized
and people are known only by their on-line nicknames?
"The challenge for us has been to contact, notify and inform individuals
(when) we only have their Internet screen handles," Klausner said Monday.
America Online declined to alter its privacy policy and reveal the identities
of the chat room regulars, but it did put Klausner in touch with PlanetOut,
an online gay and lesbian community.
"The health department did contact us looking for advice on how to use the
online medium to deal with this public health issue," said Rich D'Amato, an
AOL spokesman.
PlanetOut staff spent two weeks visiting the chat room and warning users
about the outbreak, urging them to take syphilis tests and to practice safe
sex.
While the chatters' anonymity has been protected, officials hope they have
got the message. Klausner said the experience has been an eye-opener, and
that future public health campaigns would certainly take into account the
growing role that the Internet plays in human relationships.
"We've learned that Internet contacts are an important sexual network," he
told the San Francisco Examiner Monday.
Full article at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1999/08/23/NE
WS16
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