E-cards are a common way of sending birthday greetings or holiday cheer with dancing puppies or frolicking elves — though every now and then, the IT department or a forward-happy relative warns of a virus disguised as an e-card. For some, however, e-cards contain alerts of actual viruses — namely sexually transmitted diseases.

A recent report published in the online journal PLoS Medicine estimates 30,000 people have used inSPOT, a service that allows users to alert sexual partners of possible STD infection via email, since it started in San Francisco in 2004. Today, inSPOT is available in nine major U.S. cities — Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle and Washington, DC — and throughout the states of California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey and Wisconsin, as well as in Toronto, Ottawa and Romania.

Users of the site select the geographical area, pick out a card and create a message. It is up to the sender if he or she wants to be anonymous. The recipient gets the e-card with the subject “E-card from a concerned friend re: your health via inSPOT” and is linked to information on the specific disease, testing and treatment.

We remember when it was considered bad form to break up over the phone. What do you think of this service? Is receiving an STD alert via email preferable to hearing the news in person?

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