Last week, Dr. Sarah Rowan, Interim Director of HIV and Viral Hepatitis Prevention with Denver Public Health, told us that early numbers suggest the cases of syphilis in Colorado are up 56 percent so far this year. Researchers aren't certain as to why, but they have some theories. One possibility is that new dating apps are driving the increase.
We thought of that today when we read in the Los Angeles Times that:
"Tinder has sent a cease and desist letter to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation after a billboard went up in Los Angeles last week that draws a link between dating apps and a growing rate of sexually transmitted diseases."
The billboard aims to remind people to get tested for STDs, with the words “Tinder, Chlamydia, Grindr, Gonorrhea.”
Tinder demands removal of L.A. billboard that tells dating app users to get STD test http://t.co/HrciMrssUY pic.twitter.com/zuqwBEP8I6
As Rowan told us about Syphilis in Colorado:
"Ninety-eight percent of the cases have occurred in men. So they ask men, 'where do you think that you met your partner?' and about 50 percent say they met them through an Internet app -- Grindr, SCRUFF, Craigslist."
