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Craigslist personals linked to increase in reported HIV cases
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An increase of Craigslist sites in a region may increase HIV cases, according to recent data.
Jason Chan, PhD, of the Carlson School of Management at University of Minnesota, and Anindya Ghose, PhD, of the Center for Business Analytics at New York University, analyzed data from 33 states from 1999 to 2008 to explore trends associated with the classified advertisement website. They collected reported cases of HIV from state to state from the CDC’s HIV Surveillance Reports, with eligible states being those which had initiated HIV infection reporting before the launch of Craigslist in that area. Confounding factors such as increased testing within a community, ethnic demographics, internet activity and others known to affect HIV transmission were accounted for during analysis.
“The availability and anonymity in individual browsing coupled with non-costly posting of online ads result in an increased access to potential sex partners and, subsequently, a heightened frequency of casual sex encounters,” the researchers wrote. “Consequently, the increase in casual sex frequency and sexual partners are likely to induce a greater incidence of STDs within the population.”
Researchers found that the entry of Craigslist was related to an average 15.9% increase in cases of reported HIV. This equates to a yearly estimate of 94 new cases of HIV infection per state, 6,130 to 6,455 new cases nationally, and $62 million to $65.2 million in treatment costs. Additionally, increased HIV incidence were only associated with casual, non-paid sex, as opposed to transaction-based services which are also supported on the website.
“Our study results suggest that there is a new social route of HIV transmission that is taking place in this digital era,” Chan said in a press release. “Health care practitioners and policymakers have to look more closely at online platforms to assess how its usage may facilitate the spread of HIV and STDs across the country.”
Disclosure: See the study for a full list of the researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.
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