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Herpes-grams: When you care enough to send the very best
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"Time to tell Billy he's got the clap."
Let’s see—what to do today? Feed cat? Check. Peruse the paper? Check. Let your ex-girlfriend know she’ll forever be scratching her genitals thanks to the results of your recent STD test? Check. But don’t just cold call your former honey and tell her that a girl you cheated on her with looked clean at the time. Tell her she’s got herpes in style by sending her an e-postcard from inSPOT, where they’ll do the dirty work and notify the recipient that they may have been exposed to an STD.
Straightforward and concise, one card reads: “Who? What? When? Where? It doesn’t matter. I got an STD; you might have it too. Please get checked out.” The recipient is then invited to click on links that give additional information on STDs, suggested treatments, and local clinics where they can get tested.
The site receives over 750 visitors daily and has sent almost 50,000 e-cards since its premiere in 2004. Gonorrhea and syphilis account for approximately 15 percent of the total cards sent, trailed by Chlamydia (11.6 percent) and HIV (9.3 percent).
While sending someone an STD e-card may seem bastardesqe at first, that’s not the point. Dr. Emily Erbelding, an associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University and the director of clinical services for STD clinics run by the city of Baltimore’s Department of Public Health, says “if this leads to more people knowing they might have been exposed to STDs and leads to them getting an evaluation and treatment, it is a good thing.” And the number of recipients of these cards who click to see testing site information is notable, with 20.4 percent in Los Angeles to an even higher 48 percent in Idaho.
So if you can’t summon the strength to tell a former partner they might have an uninvited guest in their genital region, consider visiting www.inSPOT.org, and send them the info they need to take charge of their health. And yes—that hot blonde you’re currently trying to woo needs to hear the new before you get frisky. And in person.
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