Dating apps and the risk of unspeakable diseases

A 22-year-old gay male patient was brought to the Ho Chi Minh City Dermatology Hospital by his mother because he wanted to be tested for STDs.

Moments of fun, thousands of regrets

The patient and his partner (also male) had been sexually active for about a year and recently discovered that his partner had been having relationships with several other partners. Feeling betrayed, the patient was depressed for several weeks.

Although he had no symptoms, he was worried so he went to a private testing facility to get himself tested for HIV. When he received the positive HIV test result, he felt like he was struck by lightning. The patient became quiet, often stayed alone in his room, and refused to communicate with people. After that, the patient had insomnia, his studies were affected, and he even had suicidal thoughts. The mother noticed the unusual change in her son so she asked him and only then did she know what happened.

At the Dermatology Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, after doing tests, it was found that the patient was fortunately not infected with other STDs. Doctors and HIV counselors explained to the patient that having HIV does not mean the end of everything. When he understood the disease and the treatment method, the patient also began to calm down. Realizing that his psychology was still not completely stable, psychiatrists diagnosed the patient with anxiety disorder and prescribed long-term medication.

Ứng dụng hẹn hò và nguy cơ mắc bệnh khó nói - Ảnh 1.

Specialist II Doctor Doan Van Loi Em examines a patient

Another case is also a 30-year-old man with a family. After a drunken night out, his friends invited him to get a relaxing massage. There, a female masseuse performed oral sex on him. After about 3 days, he had itching in his genitals, painful urination, and pus discharge; he went to the doctor and was tested and found to have gonorrhea.

Specialist II Doctor Doan Van Loi Em, Head of Clinical Department 3 of Ho Chi Minh City Dermatology Hospital, said that although gonorrhea is not difficult to treat and only takes about a week, the patient became depressed because of the feeling of guilt. He became self-conscious and embarrassed when meeting other people because of fear. When he returned home, he did not dare to have sex with his wife because he was afraid of infection and afraid of being discovered for doing bad things outside.

More seriously, the patient also complained of occasional itching and tingling in the urethra. Each time, he went to the hospital to get tested to see if the gonorrhea bacteria had gone away. When the third test was negative, the patient was still insistent that he was still sick and continued to beg for testing because of his anxiety. The patient was then transferred to a psychiatric specialist, treated with medication combined with psychological counseling and diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

According to Dr. Loi Em, from the two cases above, it can be clearly seen that STDs significantly affect the patient's mental health with many different manifestations. Therefore, the current trend in approaching the treatment of STDs is to have a comprehensive approach, not only treating the disease but also paying attention to the effects of the disease on mental health.

Risk of disease transmission from social networks

According to experts, technology is changing life and affecting every field, including significantly affecting STDs. On the one hand, technology provides new tools to provide information, STD preventioneducation , connect communities and increase access to health services. However, technology can also be a risk factor for STDs by contributing to the spread of misinformation, creating concepts and models of high-risk sexual relations.

Specialist Doctor I Nguyen Phu An, Department of Clinical Practice 3, Ho Chi Minh City Dermatology Hospital, said that social networks help connect many people together but can be abused to share misinformation about STDs and find partners for casual sex. Research shows that the most common misinformation shared on social networks is related to vaccination and infectious diseases (including STDs).

Experts say that social networks today also create favorable conditions for people to approach and choose suitable partners through users' personal profiles. Users can access other people's personal pages to see information such as age, gender, place of residence... From there, they can guess their personality, needs and choose the right person for them. This saves a lot of time and effort compared to meeting and getting to know each other directly in real life. Therefore, it is becoming easier for a person to find many different partners at the same time. "In fact, dating apps also contribute to increasing the risk of STDs" - Dr. An emphasized.

Research shows that about 56.7% of MSM (men who have sex with men), bisexual, and transgender people use social networks to find sexual partners; 19.6% use them to find sexual partners to earn money, and 9.8% find sexual partners in exchange for stimulants.

Finding a partner through dating apps can easily lead to disease

Doctor Nguyen Phu An cited a study in the US showing that 45% of users aged 18-34 use dating apps to experience new feelings and about 28% of people look for partners for social sex.

Another survey also showed that the majority of young people, LGBT people and people with high education levels think that finding a partner through dating apps is quite safe. Due to subjectivity and lack of awareness, these people are at high risk of contracting STDs.

Another study found that dating app users were 1.25 times more likely to test positive for gonorrhea than non-users.

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