Morgan State University, School of Community Health and Policy, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Sex Transm Infect. 2010 Apr;86(2):112-6. doi: 10.1136/sti.2009.037226. Epub 2009 Oct 22.
Searching the internet for information about sexually transmitted infections (STI) is common. The goal of the study was to discover which internet sites offer STI tests and obtain information about the services and their validity.
Using internet web-based search engines, information was collected from the sites about STI testing services, costs and types of tests offered, and tests were evaluated for accuracy. 'Business' functions regarding consent and return of results were investigated. Contact attempts were made by phone, e-mail or 'contact us' links and by mail. Test kits were ordered from six commercial internet sites and one public health site. Their accuracy was evaluated for chlamydia and gonorrhoea.
The study identified 27 national/international internet sites offering STI self-collection kits and services. Tests were available for gonorrhoea, syphilis, chlamydia, HIV, herpes, hepatitis viruses, trichomonas, mycoplasma and 'gardnerella'. All attempts to administer the survey yielded unsatisfactory results. After sending the survey by mail/e-mail to all the sites, four responded, two with the survey. Six websites appeared invalid based on non-deliverable e-mails and returned letters. The remainder did not respond. Test results were obtained from five of seven ordered kits. Two websites who were sent mocked urine specimens never provided results. The two 'perform-it-yourself' kits yielded false-negative results. Two mail-in urine specimens yielded correct positive results. The public health site kit yielded correct positive results.
The internet STI testing sites were difficult to contact and demonstrated unwillingness to answer consumer-specific questions. Test accuracy varied, with home tests having poor accuracy and mail-in specimens demonstrating high accuracy.
在互联网上搜索有关性传播感染（STI）的信息是很常见的。本研究的目的是发现哪些互联网网站提供 STI 检测，并获取有关服务及其有效性的信息。
使用互联网网络搜索引擎，从网站上收集有关 STI 检测服务、费用和提供的检测类型的信息，并评估检测的准确性。研究了关于同意和检测结果返还的“业务”功能。通过电话、电子邮件或“联系我们”链接以及邮件与网站进行联系。从六个商业网站和一个公共卫生网站订购了检测试剂盒，并对其用于检测衣原体和淋病的准确性进行了评估。
本研究确定了 27 个提供 STI 自我采集试剂盒和服务的国家/国际互联网网站。可进行淋病、梅毒、衣原体、HIV、疱疹、肝炎病毒、滴虫、支原体和“加德纳菌”检测。所有尝试进行调查的努力都没有得到令人满意的结果。将调查通过邮件/电子邮件发送给所有网站后，有四个网站回复了，其中两个网站提供了调查。根据无法送达的电子邮件和退回的信件，有六个网站看起来是无效的。其余的网站没有回复。从订购的七个试剂盒中获得了六个测试结果。两个网站收到模拟尿液样本后从未提供结果。两个“自行检测”试剂盒出现假阴性结果。两个邮寄尿液样本的结果均为阳性。公共卫生网站试剂盒的检测结果为阳性。
互联网 STI 检测网站难以联系，并且表现出不愿意回答消费者特定问题的态度。检测准确性存在差异，家庭检测的准确性较差，而邮寄样本的检测准确性较高。
