Is The Rise Of Online Dating Responsible For The Rise Of STDs?

The Internet has been a-buzz lately with bad news for my northern neighbors: STDs are on the rise.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, the per capita rate of new syphilis cases throughout the country has surged nearly 10-fold since 2000. Chlamydia rates fell through most of the 90s, but have jumped 66% since 2000. In 2009, more than 87,000 new cases were reported and HIV, too, saw a steady decline through the 1990s but has been climbing again in the 2000s. Many of those new patients are heterosexuals and women, say public health agency statistics, two groups that are typically considered to be at a lower risk for HIV.

So what's responsible for the sudden soaring rates of STD infection? Are the diseases themselves more tenacious? Are we simply being less careful?

The answer, some health experts believe, is something else that's been on the rise during the last decade: online dating. In North America alone, the online dating industry has soared from bringing in $40-million in revenue in 2000 to bringing in more more than $1.5-billion currently. A quarter of Canadians have taken part in Internet dating, says a survey taken last year, and 16% reported having sex with someone they met online.

Many of the new singles flocking to dating sites are middle-aged and older, age brackets that are less likely than younger daters to practice safe sex and that are now responsible for many of the new STD infections. Experts believe that online dating may create a false sense of security and intimacy for members, subconsciously leading daters to take more risks in their sex lives.

"By the time you meet and start having sexual activity," says Pam Krause, executive director of the Calgary Sexual Health Centre, "perhaps you have this sense that you're really comfortable and you know this person well. So there's no need to negotiate safer sex."

Dr. Jill Grimes, author of Seductive Delusions - How Everyday People Catch STDs, says that patients frequently report feeling an increased sense of intimacy with partners they meet online. "You feel like you know them because you've had this correspondence," she says, "and physical intimacy proceeds a lot faster." The mistake we make is thinking that the more we know someone, the less likely they are to have an STD.

To combat the rising STD rates, dating sites are being encouraged to include features like a safe-sex option in member profiles, lists of HIV testing locations, and e-cards to inform partners of positive results. Many experts, including officials with the Ontario and Alberta health departments, believe that there is no hard evidence of a link between the popularity of online dating and the growth of STD infections, but smart daters will chose partners wisely and practice safe sex - whether dating online or not.