Sexually transmitted infection

Sexually transmitted diseases, also called STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) or STI (sexually transmitted infections), are those diseases that can be transmitted through sexual intercourse. They can be caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and parasitic arthropods.

Venereal diseases (VD) in the narrower sense or venerea (for the origin of the word, see venereology) are transmitted only through sexual intercourse. They exist in humans and in animals. In animals they are called veterinary mating diseases. For sexually transmitted diseases there is or was a legal obligation for the treating physicians to report to the competent authority (in Germany health office or veterinary office). In human medicine, only the occurrence of the disease is reported, but not the name of the sick person, because the patient file is always subject to data protection.

The scholar and translator Adelard of Bath (b. c. 1070; † c. 1152) wrote in one of his works that contagion of disease through sexual intercourse was possible. He described in 1111 a contagious elephantiasis which "is said to have been spread by a clinically healthy puella publica" (prostitute).

The "classical venereal diseases" (syphilis, gonorrhoea, ulcus molle and lymphogranuloma venereum), which as such have only received greater attention in Europe since the end of the 15th century, were of little importance until recently, as they had become rare.

Much more significant - and in some cases much more difficult to treat - are currently: HIV infection and the immunodeficiency AIDS acquired as a result, hepatitis B, genital herpes, infections with chlamydia and trichomonad infections with Trichomonas vaginalis, crabs, and infection with certain (so-called "high risk") human papillomaviruses (HP viruses, HPV), some of which can cause the development of cervical cancer. In Germany today, approximately 100,000 women are unintentionally childless due to untreated chlamydia-related infections, and more people die from hepatitis B each year than from all other sexually transmitted diseases combined - a fact that is now being countered by vaccination against hepatitis B in infancy and childhood. Since 2006, there has also been a vaccination against the "high-risk" HP viruses, which is expected to significantly reduce the incidence of cervical cancer.

Germany's medical society for the field of sexually transmitted diseases is the German STI Society (DSTIG), which was founded in 1902 under the title German Society for the Control of Venereal Diseases (DGBG).

Overview

Partially off:

Mandatory Reporting

• In Germany, there is an obligation to report HIV (not by name) to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in accordance with § 7 of the Infection Protection Act. For syphilis, there is an obligation to report the anonymised data of cases of the disease to the Robert Koch Institute.
• In Austria there is (according to: Absonderungsverordnung of 1915, Epidemiegesetz of 1950, Geschlechtskrankheitengesetz, AIDS-Gesetz, BGBl 345/1993) there is an obligation to report AIDS (not the sole HIV infection), syphilis, gonorrhoea, ulcus molle and lymphogranuloma venereum.