Can A Urinalysis Detect Chlamydia

How Accurate Is A Urine Test

The accuracy of a urine test to detect STD has always been questioned. When we talk about undergoing a test for STDs we do find that there are a number of methods that are in use. Each of it offers its own pros and cons. A urine test is the most preferred as it is simple and does provide accurate results, which again are dependent on the window period.

Urine tests provide accurate results when the disease causing bacteria is present in the urine samples of the patient. But, when there is an infection and the bacteria are not present in the urethra, a urine test cannot detect the same. So, when a urine test is conducted within the window period, the result might not be accurate but when it is conducted after the window period, the test results can be accurate. Other than urine tests, even normal blood tests show STDs if the condition is in a progressive stage.

If you are undergoing a urine test for STD accuracy, it also helps to go in for a second test like Swab Test as it helps to confirm the existence or non-existence of STD. Remember that a wrong analysis can often lead to medical as well as personal consequences.

Chlamydia Can Be Treated And Cured With Antibiotics

Individuals diagnosed with chlamydia should abstain from sexual activity for one week after finishing antibiotics. Keep in mind that it is possible to become reinfected with chlamydia after receiving treatment. This is why it is crucial for partners of those who have chlamydia to also get tested and treated if found positive. Chlamydia often occurs along with gonorrhea . If you have one of these STDs, you might have the other because the risk factors and symptoms are very similar. Getting tested for both is important.

Whether or not symptoms are present, testing or screening for chlamydia can be done as early as 24 hours after exposure. The incubation times vary from person-to-person for the most accurate results, get tested two weeks after initial exposure. If you test positive for chlamydia, it is advised to get retested two weeks after completing treatment to be sure that all of the Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria is cleared from your system.

Can A Doctor Tell If You Have Chlamydia By Looking At Your Cervix

The way that doctors test for chlamydia is somewhat different for women and men. This is due to the locations that chlamydia infects in each sex. Women: Your gynecologist will most likely use a speculum to view your cervix. She will retrieve a sample from your cervix using a small swab, which will get sent to a lab.

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When Is The Right Time To Test For Chlamydia And Gonorrhea

Now is the best time to test for chlamydia and gonorrhea, especially if you are sexually active. Know yoursexual health status today.

If you had a recent sexual encounter with someone whose STD status you do not know, it is important that you gettested. Our clinicians recommend testing for chlamydia 1-5 days post-exposure and gonorrhea 2-6 days after your sexualencounter. Re-test two weeks after treatment to confirm that you are clear of chlamydia and gonorrhea, then again 3months later to make sure the infection did not re-appear. Chlamydia and gonorrhea are known as co-existinginfections, meaning that having one infection may put you at risk of having the other. Taking the chlamydia andgonorrhea test panel ensures that you test and get treatment for both infections.

Also if you have not been tested for other STDs like syphilis, HIV-1, HIV-2, hepatitis A, B and C or herpes 1 and 2in the last year, our clinicians recommend taking the all-inclusive 10 TestPanel to ensure that you are completely STD free.

For answers to your questions about testing for chlamydia and gonorrhea, call our Care Advisors at.

Medically Reviewed byJ. Frank Martin JR., MDonJune 18, 2019

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Who Should Get 3 Site Testing

Anyone who engages in oral and anal sex, male or female, should test at all three sites. Testing only by urinalysis is a very heteronormative approach to managing potential risk for STIs.

MSM in particular are at high risk for exposure to gonorrhea and chlamydia in the throat and anus, and should seek out locations that test through urinalysis as well as throat and anal swabbing.

What If My Results Are Positive

The Everlywell Chlamydia & Gonorrhea test includes an easy-to-understand lab report. But if you’re not sure how to read your chlamydia test results, your healthcare provider can help.

A positive STI test result can be unsettling, but you arenât alone: with the Everlywell Chlamydia & Gonorrhea Test, you have the opportunity to speak with a physician in our network to discuss your results further if you test positiveâand you may be prescribed medication.

If your chlamydia test is positive, STI testing is recommended for your sex partner . If they are infected and don’t receive treatment, they can pass the chlamydial infection back to you.

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Can Chlamydia Be Mistaken For Uti

The symptoms The main symptom that chlamydia does not share with UTIs is penile or vaginal discharge. A chlamydial infection can cause a yellowish, strong-smelling vaginal discharge or a watery, milky penile discharge. Urinary tract infections are not known to cause any sort of abnormal genital discharge.

What Is Being Tested

Chlamydia is one of the most common bacterial sexually transmitted diseases in the United States and can cause serious complications if not treated. Chlamydia testing identifies the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis as the cause of your infection.

The preferred method for chlamydia testing is the nucleic acid amplification test that detects the genetic material of Chlamydia trachomatis. It is generally more sensitive and specific than other chlamydia tests and can be performed on a vaginal swab on women or urine from both men and women, which eliminates the need for a pelvic exam in women.

Screening for, diagnosing, and treating chlamydia is very important in preventing long-term complications and spread of the infection to others. Chlamydia infections are especially common among people 15 to 24 years of age. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 2.86 million Americans are infected with chlamydia each year and notes that women are frequently re-infected if their partners don’t get treatment. The actual number of cases may be higher since many people do not experience any symptoms and do not get tested and diagnosed. Still, over one million new cases are reported each year.

Chlamydia is generally spread through sexual contact with an infected partner. Risk factors include having multiple sex partners, infection with another STD at the same time or previous STD infection, and not using a condom correctly and consistently.

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Purpose Of Urine Testing For Stds

It used to be that STD testing, particularly for bacterial STDs, was very uncomfortable.

Men who thought they might have a bacterial STD like chlamydia or gonorrhea got tested by having a swab inserted into their urethra. Women had to undergo a pelvic exam, during which a cervical swab would be taken and tested for bacteria.

The fact that STD testing was uncomfortable and invasive made it less likely that people would undergo regular STD screening.

That probably contributed to what is sometimes known as the hidden epidemic of asymptomatic STDs. Because many STDs have no symptoms, the only way to detect them is through testing. When people aren’t tested regularly, they can spread STDs to their partners without even knowing it.

Urine testing makes it easier for people to undergo STD testing as part of their regular medical care. Note, however, that STD testing is still not a standard part of most annual exams.

Are Test Results Accurate

Although chlamydia testing is an important method of finding and treating this common STD, test results could be impacted by the following:

• The use of antibiotics within several days before testing
• Urinating within one hour of sample collection
• Vaginal douching within 24 hours of testing
• Improper sample collection
• Contamination of rectal samples with fecal matter

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Why It Is Done

A test for chlamydia is done to:

• See whether symptoms of a sexually transmitted infection are caused by a chlamydia infection.
• Check people who are at high risk for being infected with chlamydia. A chlamydia infection does not always cause symptoms. The Public Health Agency of Canada recommends checking for chlamydia for:
• All sexually active women age 25 or younger.
• Women and men with high-risk sexual behaviours.
• All pregnant women in the first trimester and again in the third trimester if high-risk sexual behaviours are reported. Treating a pregnant woman who has a chlamydia infection can prevent an infection in her newborn.

What Does A Urine Test Show

Most of us often wonder about the accuracy of urine tests. While there are a number of tests that can be done to diagnose STD, a urine test is a common test conducted due to the accurate results it provides. There are different kinds of STDs and each of those requires a different test.

The most common and the simplest of all the tests is a urine test that is used to check for the two most common bacteria that causes STDs Gonorrhea and Chlamydia. During the urine test, a sample of urine of the patient is collected which is sent to a lab for analysis. The technicians present in the lab check for the evidence of Gonorrhea or Chlamydia, and also for hepatitis, HIV, or herpes.

In most cases, a urine test also helps deduct the abnormal pH values in urine, along with the existence of Bilirubin in the urine. Some of the other conditions that can be known via a urine test are,

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Urine Tests Vs Swab Tests

Urine tests can be used to identify bacterial sexually transmitted infections.

Chlamydia and gonorrhea urine tests are widely available. Trichomoniasis urine tests are also available, but they are less common.

It is important to note that the most accurate way of under-going STD testing is via bacterial culture. Bacterial cultures may be taken from using a swab sample. That involved attempting to grow bacteria out of samples that were taken directly from the cervix or urethra.

Bacterial DNA testing looks for the DNA of the bacteria as opposed to looking for the culture. Urine testing very simple and completely safe. You simply collect your urine sample in a sample jar and either hand it to your healthcare provider or mail it to the laboratory.

Samples are tested in the laboratory to identify whether it contains bacterial DNA.

What Do Urine Test Results Mean

If you receive a positive test result. It means that you are infected with an STD and should be treated. A negative test means there was no evidence that you were infected with that STD at the time of the test. It is important to

Even with a negative test, it is important to undergo regular STD testing if you are sexually active. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends getting screened once a year. Urine STD testing is not a one-time thing. You could get infected in your next sexual encounter.

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What Is The Purpose Of Urinalysis

There are several reasons why a doctor or medical professional will recommend a urine test. Many disorders can be diagnosed in their early stages by detecting abnormalities in the urine. These abnormalities include increased concentrations of constituents that are not usually found in significant quantities in the urine, such as:

• Glucose.

What Does The Test Measure

Chlamydia testing looks for evidence of infection with the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis. There are several types of tests that can be used to detect chlamydia, including molecular testing, also called Nucleic Acid Amplification Test , and cell culture.

NAAT is the preferred method for detecting a chlamydia infection. This type of test detects the genetic material of Chlamydia trachomatis. It can be performed using a urine sample or swab of fluid taken from a site of potential infection such as the urethra, vagina, rectum, or eye.

Traditionally, NAAT takes a day or more to provide results, but there have also been rapid chlamydia tests developed using NAAT methods. Rapid chlamydia tests can often provide a result within 30 to 90 minutes. Rapid chlamydia tests are typically performed on urine samples or swabs of fluid taken from the vagina or cervix.

Although much less commonly used, cell cultures can help diagnose a chlamydia infection. Chlamydia cell cultures may be used in children with a suspected chlamydia infection, when evaluating potential infections in the anus or rectum, and when initial treatment for chlamydia is unsuccessful. In these cases of treatment failure, doctors may use a cell culture to help understand which treatments may be most effective for an individuals infection.

Other types of chlamydia tests are available but are rarely used given the accuracy and availability of NAAT.

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Can Urinalysis Detect Std

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When Should I Get Tested

Dont delay getting tested if you think you might have chlamydia. Being diagnosed and treated as soon as possible will reduce your risk of developing any serious complications of chlamydia.

You can get a chlamydia test at any time although you might be advised to repeat the test later on if you have it less than 2 weeks since you had sex because the infection might not always be found in the early stages.

You should consider getting tested for chlamydia if:

• you think you could have a sexually transmitted infection
• a sexual partner tells you they have an STI
• youre pregnant or planning a pregnancy
• youre offered a chlamydia test as part of the NCSP

If you live in England, youre a woman under 25 and sexually active, its recommended that you have a chlamydia test once a year, and when you have sex with new or casual partners.

If you live in England, youre a man under 25 and sexually active, its recommended that you have a chlamydia test once a year if you are not using condoms with new or casual partners.

If you have chlamydia, you may be offered another test 3 to 6 months after being treated. This is because young adults who test positive for chlamydia are at increased risk of catching it again.

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How Reliable Is Urine Testing For Gonorrhea And Chlamydia

Am Fam Physician. 2005 Dec 1 72:2354.

Until recently, testing patients for chlamydia and gonorrhea involved collecting samples from the cervix or urethra and sending them for cultures. The discomfort and embarrassment associated with sampling these sites may deter some high-risk patients from seeking testing for these treatable infections. An alternative to cervical or urethral cultures is nucleic acid amplification tests that can be performed on urine samples. Three types of NAAT are commercially available: polymerase chain reaction , transcription-mediated amplification, and strand displacement amplification. However, concerns remain about the sensitivity and specificity of the NAAT compared with culture techniques. Cook and colleagues conducted a systematic review of the literature to compare the sensitivity and specificity of the NAAT for detecting chlamydia and gonorrhea in urine samples with that of cervical and urethral samples.

The authors conclude that all three commercially available NAATs have high sensitivity and specificity for chlamydia regardless of the site of sample collection. With the exception of PCR for detection of gonorrhea in women, urine samples perform as well as samples collected from other sites. The authors suggest that the widespread use of NAATs on urine samples may improve adherence to screening recommendations for these common sexually transmitted diseases.

Read the full article.

How Does A Doctor Test For Stds

Category:

What procedure will a clinician follow in testing someone for STIs?

It depends on the infection. When health care providers test for sexually transmitted infections, they usually test for a few different ones. To decide what to test for, providers examine their clients. They talk with them about their visible symptoms, other symptoms they may feel, and what kind of risks they may have taken.

Depending on whats found during the examination and conversation, the health care provider may take samples of

• blood to check for CMV , hepatitis, herpes, HIV, or syphilis
• urine to check for chlamydia and gonorrhea
• cells to check for BV , chlamydia, gonorrhea, HPV , molluscum contagiosum, or scabies
• fluid, secretions, or discharge to check for BV, gonorrhea, herpes, HPV, pelvic inflammatory disease, syphilis, or trichomoniasis
• cells from the cervix for Pap tests to detect changes associated with certain types of HPV that can cause cancer
• saliva can be used to test for HIV

Recently, some health officials have called for similar tests on cells collected from the rectum if people have anal sex.

Most health care providers will not do a screening for sexually transmitted infections unless the client asks. So, dont let embarrassment become a health risk. If youre sexually active, you should ask to be screened for infections.

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