STD, VD & STI

Sexually transmissible diseases: Different from VD & STD

The commonest means of transmitting STD are various forms of sexual activities. These include anal sex, oral sex, or even vaginal intercourse.

STD or VD is nowadays referred to as STI (sexually transmitted infection) as the ailment is spread also through means other than intercourse. Moreover, STI has a wider purview.

For instance breastfeeding, childbirth or sharing of needles used by infected persons can also transmit the ailment to others. This term was coined by the Public Health officials to differentiate the infection-related ailments transmitted through sexual intercourse and those ailments that may spread even though there is no infection.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INFECTION & DISEASE

There is a definite difference between the connotations of the terms ‘infection’ and ‘disease’.
Infection refers to that stage when a bacterium or a virus (both of which are but parasites and germs) or a group of bacteria or virus sets in action a chain of reaction that may upset the normal constitutional setup of a person. This manifests in diseases or ailments. But the infected person may not fall sick. In other words, the person concerned or the body of the patient won’t be demonstrating any of the symptoms generally associated with the particular disease. However, the person would be falling prey to the disease surely but silently.

On the other hand, a disease makes a person fall sick first. Then too the symptoms of the patient are closely monitored to cure the ailment.

This is the logic behind the coinage of the term — ‘STI’ (Sexually Transmitted Infection) — by the Public Health officials. It obviously has a broader purview. ‘STI’ points to any infection caused by a germ, and which can ultimately cause any of the ailments associated with STD.

STD ALSO MEANS SEXUALLY TRANSMISSIBLE DISEASE

In many instances the term ‘STD’ is used to mean those ailments which are transmissible through sexual acts. This pointer helps to segregate a set of particular diseases transmitted through a particular means.

Mention may be made of meningitis which is labeled STD but not STI. This is because the disease may be transmitted by sexual contact although this factor is not the sole means of its transmission.

STI are the infections that occur due to only sexual contact. Hence, diseases like syphilis (commonly called ‘pox’), genital herpes, gonorrhea (the clap), and chlamydia are transmitted primarily and in the majority of cases by sexual contact. Here we are not taking into account extraneous factors like sharing of needles deemed to be hypodermic or through transfusion of blood.