First let me start by saying, this is a bit ridiculous , but the Telegraph is reporting about a UK-based study that found a rise in syphilis in three areas of Britain (Sunderland, Durham and Teesside) with above-average Facebook use . It’s not as if playing Farmville , or mafia wars is going to give you a sexually-transmitted disease — although I can’t prove that conclusively — so how did the researchers explain the link?

Turns out the people who used social networking sites more frequently were also using them to arrange more casual hookups. In other words, a key assumption of the study is that Facebook can successfully get you laid. I’ll just have to take their word for it, I guess, but these  researchers found that people had arranged encounters with multiple partners over Facebook, probably leading to the uptick in the number of infections.  Now we’ve got something to be scared of.

Taking all this into consideration, 22rocks presents the following Public Service Announcement: be safe when you browse Facebook and use protection, I wonder if my Norton or AVG works for this..

Now you’ve got another reason to de-friend your weird mate from Sunderland, Durham or Teesside