Chlamydia

The only way to avoid STDs is to not have sex. If you are sexually active, you can do the following things to lower your chances of getting chlamydia:

• Be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and has negative STD test results
• Use protection during sex

Anyone who has sex can get chlamydia through unprotected sex. 

Have an honest and open talk with your health care provider. Ask whether you should be tested for chlamydia or other STIs. If you are a sexually active woman younger than 25 years, you should get a test for chlamydia every year.

If you are an older woman with risk factors such as new or multiple sex partners, or a sex partner who has an STD, you should get a test for chlamydia every year.

If you are pregnant and have chlamydia, you can pass the infection to your baby during delivery. This could cause an eye infection or pneumonia in your newborn. Having chlamydia may also make it more likely to deliver your baby too early.

If you are pregnant, you should get tested for chlamydia at your first prenatal visit. Testing and treatment are the best ways to prevent health problems.

Most people who have chlamydia have no symptoms. If you do have symptoms, they may not appear until several weeks after you have sex with an infected partner. Even when chlamydia causes no symptoms, it can damage your reproductive system.

Women with symptoms may notice

• Abnormal vaginal discharge
• Burning sensation when urinating

Symptoms in men can include

• Discharge from their penis
• Burning sensation when urinating
• Pain and swelling in one or both testicles (less common)

Men and women can also get infected with chlamydia in their rectum. While these infections often cause no symptoms, they can cause

• Rectal pain
• Discharge
• Bleeding

You should be examined by your doctor if you notice any of these symptoms or if your partner has an STI or any symptoms, including  an unusual sore, a smelly discharge, burning when urinating, or bleeding between periods.

Laboratory tests can diagnose chlamydia.

Your health care provider may ask you to provide a urine sample or may use (or ask you to use) a cotton swab to get a sample to test for chlamydia.

Yes, chlamydia can be cured with the right treatment. It is important that you take all of the medication your doctor prescribes to cure your infection. When taken properly it will stop the infection and could decrease your chances of having complications later on. You should not share medication for chlamydia with anyone.

Repeat infection with chlamydia is common. You should be tested again about three months after you are treated, even if your partner(s) was treated.

The initial damage that chlamydia causes often goes unnoticed. However, chlamydia can lead to serious health problems.

If you are a woman, untreated chlamydia can spread to your uterus and fallopian tubes (tubes that carry fertilized eggs from the ovaries to the uterus). This can cause pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). PID often has no symptoms, however some women may have abdominal and pelvic pain. Even if it doesn’t cause symptoms initially, PID can cause permanent damage to your reproductive system. PID can lead to long-term pelvic pain, inability to get pregnant, and potentially deadly ectopic pregnancy(pregnancy outside the uterus).

Men rarely have health problems linked to chlamydia. Infection sometimes spreads to the tube that carries sperm from the testicles, causing pain and fever. Rarely, chlamydia can prevent a man from being able to have children.