STD Facts

ETR is excited to offer a refreshed and newly designed STD Facts, a great introduction on how to take care of your sexual health and prevent sexually transmitted diseases. The pamphlet includes an easily accessible overview of 8 common sexually transmitted diseases—folding out to a handy, comprehensive chart that makes the information easy to understand.

Sexual health educators have long relied on ETR's all-time best-selling STD Facts pamphlet. And we continue to update this valuable resource! But for years there’s been a debate in the public health community over whether to use the term "STD" or "STI" in patient education materials. Some leading authoritative organizations continue to use STD, but many organizations have switched to using STI, or to using both terms.

In an effort to meet the need for resources that fit your own approach to sexual health education, ETR now offers the same, vital sexual health information in a new title: STI Facts.

Our new STI Facts pamphlet uses "STI" interchangeably with "STD" and gives an indispensable overview of 8 common STDs: chlamydia, syphilis, herpes, gonorrhea, HPV/genital warts, hepatitis B, HIV/AIDS and trichomoniasis. We've taken care to reduce stigma around STIs and encourage people to protect themselves, get tested, and get treated.

Both STD Facts and STI Facts are designed to:

• Answer basic questions about what an STD is and how common STDs are
• Explain there are often no symptoms but list the symptoms to watch for if they do show up
• Encourage people to talk with their partners to protect themselves and reduce risk
• Emphasize that all STDs are treatable and many are curable
• Discuss what happens if you don't get treatment for the STD
• Fold out into a handy, comprehensive chart

Many well-informed experts make absolutely no distinction between STI and STD. Others feel the distinctions are real and important.

For those who make a distinction, most would say STD describes a condition with visible signs and describable symptoms—a drip, an itch, a bump, fatigue. STI encompasses the broader spectrum of conditions both with and without symptoms.

Some educators contend that using STI would make it clear to everyone that sexually transmitted conditions often have no symptoms. It might also lessen the stigma people frequently feel about having these conditions, making them more amenable to testing and treatment.

However you choose to educate about STIs/STDs, both STD Facts and STI Facts give you a great foundation to start the conversation. 

ISBN: 1-56071-268-6