The Internet is now serving as a tool to alert individuals who might have contracted a sexually transmitted disease (STD).

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is using e-mail to find and contact those with a potential risk for an STD through new measures to help find those who meet anonymously via the Internet or in chat rooms.

Richard McGarvey, Pennsylvania Department of Health spokesman, said they notify potentially infected individuals because of the increase of people using the Internet and chat rooms to meet others to arrange anonymous sexual encounters.

These sexual partners meet through cyberspace without knowing any personal information. Many times those on the Internet use a screen name to talk, so the infected individual uses a computer alias rather than his or her real name. The infected person can give the Department of Health his or her previous partners' e-mail addresses or screen names to contact to inform them of the potential risk.

"This is not a situation where you meet someone at a bar from your area that you have a general idea of or even a name," McGarvey said. "People are meeting anonymously, sometimes over state lines, and have no idea how or a way to contact a previous partner if they find out they are infected."

McGarvey said it is the Department of Health's responsibility to help reach an infected individual through partner notification to prevent spreading STDs.

In the case of Internet meetings and anonymous encounters, the Department of Health helps the infected individual find his or her past sexual partners.

Dave Zazac, Allegheny County Health Department spokesman, said the county uses the Internet contact process two to three times a month in cases primarily dealing with syphilis, gonorrhea or HIV.

"While the [number of] cases a month does not sound like a whole lot, it is," Zazac said. "One of the infected individuals could have had 20 partners. And that is a lot of people to find and contact, and put an end to the possible spread of a disease, such as syphilis or HIV, that may take years to fully develop."

McGarvey said they are still in phases to learn and adapt to the correct protocol to inform individuals and retain confidentiality. He said the confidentiality problems that arise include a spouse potentially opening up an e-mail notification.

"We are very careful in everything that we do," he said. "We are struggling to do it right and proper."

Right now, Penn State does not use any form of e-mail contact to alert infected individual's partners.

Ellen Nagy, University Health Services (UHS) marketing manager, said UHS only sends e-mail messages through secured sites, such as ANGEL. The only way students can contact UHS through e-mail is for appointment scheduling on the ANGEL server, Nagy said.

Margaret Spear, director of UHS, said the health center operates on a strictly confidential basis. Spear said that when students are treated for STDs, they are advised to notify any partners they had contact with.

"It is strictly the student's responsibility to advise partners who they may have had contact with," Spear said.