Partner notification: past, present, and future

There are currently a total of 110 million sexually transmitted infections (STI) in the United States, with 20 million new infections annually.. Untreated STIs can lead to serious health consequences including infertility and cervical cancer. The financial burden of STIs is estimated as nearly 16 billion dollars annually. One strategy to minimize the burden and costs of STIs is partner notification systems. Technology changes including widespread use of social media have created new challenges and opened new opportunities to making these partner notification systems more effective while still protecting privacy. The public health significance is the creation of an automated technological partner notification software that integrates with a healthcare system improves the current partner notification system. Furthermore, this software could improve population heath while also alleviating the financial burden on the United States healthcare systems.