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‘Safe bumping’ app allows you to check partner’s STD status

For those of you comfortable with the idea of sharing your STD status with the world, there’s an app for that.

MedXSafe is a new app that allows smart phone users to bump their phones to exchange their negative STD status — before they bump uglies.

New Jersey doctor Michael Nusbaum who developed the app calls it “safe bumping”, and says it will help curb the spread of STDs among tech savvy youngsters, reports ABC News.

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According to the most recent Canadian government statistics, about 80,000 Canadians test positive for chlamydia each year, about 11,000 for gonorrea, another 11,000 for Hepatitis C and almost 1700 for syphilis. There are about 65,000 Canadians living with HIV.

App users who test negative for STDs simply request that their doctor record their status on the app, and then can share that status with whoever they choose using bump sharing technology.

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While getting regular STD testing and being honest about status is very important for sexually active singles, some professionals worry this will make young people think they’ve got the green light to have unprotected sex. HIV can take months to show up in a test, so someone who tests negative can retest three months later and discover that they had it all along, reports ABC.

Others worry that confidential health information — like positive status — could be revealed in a cyber attack, but Nusbaum explains that only negative test results are stored in the app: it only confirms someone to be STD free, not positive.

There's no doubt this app falls in the newfangled gizmos end of spectrum, so if you’re a member of the older generation that finds the idea of “bumping” STD status completely insane, take comfort in the fact that for the time being, people are still having sex in person.