Dating sites may be spreading HIV: Study

A study conducted by the Brown University, The Miriam Hospital, and the Rhode Island Department of Health said companies behind hook up websites and apps should team up public health groups, to share public health messages about the risks of sexual encounters arranged online. According to the study sites and apps could provide affordable advertising access to help prevent infection in communities that were mostly impacted by HIV.

In 2013, 74 Ocean State residents were newly diagnosed with HIV, of whom five were gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men (MSM), and of those 43 people, 22 told researchers said they believed a man they met online gave them the virus, according the study published online in the journal Public Health Reports. Seventy of the 74 newly diagnosed people were interviewed for the study.

According to researcher Amy Nunn, this was a statewide study that included nearly all individuals newly diagnosed with HIV across an entire state.

"This is a statewide study that included nearly all individuals newly diagnosed with HIV across an entire state," said Amy Nunn, associate professor of Public Health and Medicine at Brown University and director of the Rhode Island Public Health Institute. "This is one of the first studies to document how common internet site use is among people newly diagnosed with HIV and highlights important opportunities to partner with hookup sites to advance public health," said Nunn.

The study showed that many of the individuals newly diagnosed in Rhode Island were diagnosed late in the course of their infection. According to researchers, this suggested that they might have been living with HIV for a long time, and potentially unknowingly transmitting HIV to other people, including partners they met online.

The journal Public Health Reports has published the findings.