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Background: In February 2011, Philadelphia’s STD Control Program implemented its Internet Partner Services (IPS) protocol to offer partner services to sex partners through websites.
Objectives: Describe outcomes of IPS implementation from February 1 – August 30, 2011.
Methods: All interviews among patients who reported using the internet to meet sex partners were included in the analysis. All contacts initiated from these interviews were reviewed.
Results: In total, 104 interviewed patients reported using the internet to meet sex partners. Forty-six (44.2%) were interviewed for a new syphilis diagnosis, 14 (13.5%) for HIV infection, and 44 (42.3%) for a new syphilis diagnosis and HIV co-infection. All were men. Ninety-one (87.5%) identified as gay and 11 (10.6%) as bisexual. Most were under the age of 35 (75, 72.1%) and identified as “Black” (66, 63.5%). Most commonly reported websites were Adam4Adam (55, 52.9%), Manhunt (20, 19.2%), and Facebook (19, 18.3%). Seventeen (16.4%) men named 70 online contacts; of these, 31 (44.3%) were notified for exposure to syphilis, 26 (37.1%) for exposure to HIV, and 13 (18.6%) for exposure to syphilis and HIV. Twenty-nine (41.4%) contacts could not be located due to spelling errors or change or deletion of online profile. While no new cases of syphilis or HIV resulted from notification, 11 contacts were epi-treated for syphilis and 7 contacts, who had never been tested before, received a negative HIV test.
Conclusions: Co-infection with syphilis and HIV is common in men who use the internet for sex. With established protocols, IPS is an effective method to notify sex partners of high risk men.
Implications for Programs, Policy, and Research: IPS is easy to implement, takes little time and locates partners that are not locatable otherwise. New partner services strategies are needed to address rapid adoption of websites and mobile applications (e.g., GRINDR) that are used to meet sex partners.