Study claims Tinder users in the UK twice as likely to have an STI

A British online pharmaceutical company's study has revealed that over three-quarters of Tinder users had a sexually transmitted infection (STI) compared to 38% of non-users of the app who admitted to having an infection. The Medexpress study surveyed nearly 2,899 sexually active adults in the UK to determine how many of them have a STI.

The STI contracted by Tinder users in the UK included the contagious genital warts, herpes and chlamydia. Also in the list was gonorrhoea and parasitic disease Trichomaniasis. Launched in the UK in 2014, Tinder is estimated to have nearly 50 million worldwide users.

According to Dr Peter Greenhouse from the British Association for Sexual Health, if dating apps like Tinder continue to surge, there will possibly be an "explosion" of HIV. Health officials across the US have also warned that casual sexual encounters via social media apps is to blame for the rise of STIs.

Earlier, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation(AHF) created controversy when they promoted free STD checks via a campaign that used several dozen billboards and bus stop benches in Los Angeles to draw attention to how Tinder leads to chlamydia and that Grindr, the world's largest gay social network app, leads to gonorrhoea. "Mobile dating apps are rapidly altering the sexual landscape by making casual sex as easily available as ordering a pizza," said Whitney Engeran-Cordova, senior director of public health division for AHF. "In many ways, location-based mobile dating apps are becoming a digital bathhouse for millennials wherein the next sexual encounter can literally just be a few feet away — as well as the next STD."