Venereal disease

'Venereal diseases' are infections spread through sexual contact. When the term was coined, in the 19th century, sexual activity was the only common "intimate" means of sharing body fluids. Since that time, with the advent of blood transfusion, organ transplant, and groups of substance abusers who share hypodermic equipment for injecting drugs, some of the same fastidious organism that could only survive transmission from an infected person to another individual through body fluids shared in sexual contact, also are able to survive through these other forms of transport. Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) include both the venereal diseases and other infections. These other infections can be spread in many ways, but are so likely to be transmitted by sexual contacted with an infected person that they are included in the category of sexually transmitted disease.