Using E-Mail to Notify Pseudonymous E-Mail Sexual Partners

The objective of the current study was to quantify the factors associated with reporting sexual partners only known by, or able to be contacted by, an e-mail address (pseudonymous partners) and to assess the efforts of provider partner notification when only an e-mail address was available.

Persons with pseudonymous e-mail sexual partners were compared with unmatched controls. Odds ratios were used to quantify associations, and the effectiveness of provider partner notification attempts was evaluated by comparison of outcomes of pseudonymous e-mail sexual partners and sexual partners with traditional contact information.

Factors associated with having pseudonymous e-mail sex partners included: male sex, white non-Hispanic, STD history, multiple sex partners, and reporting male-to-male sexual contact. Provider partner notification efforts via e-mail were successful with 49.7 percent of pseudonymous partners and 40.1 percent evaluated.

"Internet-based forms of communications can be utilized as means to contact and identify risk partners," the authors concluded. "If this avenue is not utilized, public health agencies may be unable to intervene with a potentially growing percentage of at-risk persons."

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