eli5: Why did we go from calling sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) to sexually transmitted infections (STIs)?
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Say that while doting you, OP’s parent shares an egg salad sandwich which they had in their pocket, and puts some of it in your “pocket” unbeknownst to you. You are now walking around with that “sandwich”, but haven’t noticed it yet. That is an infection without symptoms. A week later, you notice that terrible smell and a wet spot in your pocket. Those are symptoms from the infection. We call a group of symptoms a disease. You go visit your doctor who recognizes the symptoms, and tells you that wet spot in your pants and the smell is from a well known infection called egg salad sandwich (which some might call gonorrhea). Your doc gives you instructions to go wash your pants with a special soap (antibiotics). In fact, your doctor is so good, the know that if you have egg salad sandwich, you probably also got tuna salad sandwich (Chlamydia), which many people get slipped concurrently with egg salad sandwich and will test or treat you for that too. They will also give you the same soap for you to give to OP’s parent, and for any of you other recent pocket partners. Months later, you notice a strange pain and rash on your pocket. Your doctor tells you that you got another infection from one of your pocket partners which has no cure-as of now (herpes). The symptoms will keep popping up from time to time, but most of the time you will not have symptoms, but since you are infected with this virus, you have this disease, both of which you can share with others. Lesson: use a condom unless you can truly trust them. A few others: HIV is the infection, AIDS is the disease; monkey pox virus is the infection monkey pox is the disease; HPV is the infection, (cervical or anal) cancer is the disease. Lesson #2, get the HPV vaccine.
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