ASHA was founded in 1914 as the American Social Hygiene Association. By 1959 that name seemed dated so ASHA became the American Social Health Association, a moniker we kept until we rang in 2013 by becoming the American Sexual Health Association.

Times change and our language and terminology need the occasional dusting off (perhaps reboot is more appropriate in 2016?). Another case in point from our sexual health field: the term VD (for venereal disease) eventually was replaced by STD which, in turn, is often playing second fiddle to STI (read our explanation of all this here). Do we perhaps need a more precise term?

In her paper “STD (sexually transmitted disease) or STI (sexually transmitted infection): Should we choose?” medical linguist Janet Byron Anderson, PhD, argues that we do and proposes “sexually transmissible infectious disease (STID)” as a more accurate way to refer these infections or diseases or…well, you read her paper and let us know what you think.

Do we need a new term for a new era and is STID the way to go? Send your comments to us via email and we’ll publish selected musings on the subject.