Positive Singles ( PositiveSingles.com )an online dating site for people with herpes, HPV, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and other STDs ( sexually transmitted diseases )announced in December a recent influx of membership from three major U.S. cities: New York City, Houston and Chicago.
"It should be commended that residents [of the three cities] are doing all they can to educate themselves and stop the spread of STDs and STIs within their communities," said Miranda Segal, a data researcher for PositiveSingles.com . "These three cities all have major metropolitan areas and the thinking is that they have been hit heavy with PSAs and news surrounding initiatives. Also because they have major metropolitan areas, young adults and singles do flock to them," leading to the spike.
There are now more than 8,000 website users from Chicago, representing a 25-percent spike.
There are more than 5,100 Chicago males registered on the site, and the majority of all Chicagoans range in age from 26 to 49. The site reports that 1,862 of Chicago users identify as gay, and 35 as bisexual.
More than 2,000 of the Chicago users identify as HIV-positive, while more than 3,000 have a form of herpes.
"The Chicago youth population within our surveys shows that they tend to ignore the number-one rule in prevention of STDs: using condoms," Segal said. "However, this spike shows that residents are working to change their statuses, [which is] an amazing step. Another reason we have found in our research is a higher usage of drugs among those in Chicago. Our members are brutally honest, so we cannot deny the numbers. However, to combat all of that within Chicago, the number of youth STD awareness programs have been implemented, but not so much for elderly. Many of our Chicago numbers do include the elderly, which to us means programs do need to be implemented for them to be educated as well. Some [programs] that are specifically geared towards the elderly population."
Segal, 31, who is straight and lives in suburban Orland Park, said website officials, thanks to the report, "will be able to serve our members better, provide more location-specific information of prevention and dealing with STDs."
"We look at our site as a voice of people who are affected by STDs and cannot live a normal life, especially normal dating life without a constant feeling of stigma attached to having an STD," she said. The report "also helps us track down problem areas, such as how people are contracting STDs and STIs [sexually transmitted infections], so we can educate and put programs in place to stop it before it starts. It also means that though these three areas have many STD and STI people, they are aware of their statuses and working to stop the spread. Awareness is key."
The website was launched 11 years ago, and Segal said, "The number of people with STDs has continued to increase."
The website draws its most members from New York, and about 15 percent of the site's overall membership is gay.
"PositiveSingles.com will provide its users with specialized premium services, and will try more ways to get more people with STDs to join the community so that users can find their soul mates easier," Segal said. "In the next five years, we hope we can create local groups for our users so that they can organize some offline events in their local areas."