What Are The Treatments For Chlamydia
If you are diagnosed with chlamydia, your doctor will prescribe oral antibiotics. A single dose of azithromycin or taking doxycycline twice daily for 7 to 14 days are the most common treatments and are the same for those with or without HIV.
With treatment, the infection should clear up in about a week. Do not have sex for at least 7 days until you have taken all of your medication, and do not stop taking the antibiotics even if you feel better.
Your doctor will also recommend that your partner be treated as well to prevent reinfection and further spread of the disease.
Women with serious infections, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, may require a longer course of antibiotics or hospitalization for intravenous antibiotics. Some severe pelvic infections may require surgery in addition to antibiotic therapy.
Make sure you get retested after three months to be certain the infection is gone. Do this even if your partner has been treated and appears to be infection free.
How Is Chlamydia Treated
Chlamydia is treated with antibiotic medication, which are medications taken by mouth. Since both you and your sex partner have been infected, both of you must be treated.
With treatment, the infection should clear up in about 7 days. Continue to take your medication, even if the symptoms go away.
Also, never take someone else’s medication to treat your illness. By doing so, you may make the infection more difficult to treat.
You should also:
- Tell anyone with whom you have had sex in the last 3 months that you are infected. This step is especially important because chlamydia may have no symptoms. Women, especially, may not have symptoms and may not seek testing or treatment unless alerted by their sex partners. Abstain from sex until you have taken all of your medication.
- Get checked for HIV/AIDS and other STIs .
How And When To Take It
Your dose of doxycycline depends on why you are taking it.
The usual dose is 100mg to 200mg once or twice a day. If youre taking doxycycline more than once a day, try to space your doses evenly throughout the day. If you take it twice a day, this could be first thing in the morning, and in the evening.
For preventing malaria, youll take 100mg once a day, usually in the morning. Start taking doxycycline 1 or 2 days before going to an area where there is malaria. Carry on for 4 weeks after leaving the area. Check with your doctor or pharmacist that doxycycline is the best medicine to prevent malaria in the country you are travelling to.
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How Long Does It Take To Show Up On A Test
There are several tests that you doctor might use to diagnose chlamydia:
- Urine test. Youll pee in a cup thats sent off to a laboratory testing facility to see if any chlamydia bacteria are present in your urine.
- Blood test. Your doctor will use a sterile needle to draw some of your blood and send it to a lab to see if antibodies to the chlamydia bacteria are present in your bloodstream.
- Swab. Your doctor will use a cotton round or stick to take a small sample of tissue or fluid that carries the infection, which is then sent to a lab to be cultured so that lab technicians can see what bacteria grows from the sample.
How long it takes for the results to show up depends on the test and on your specific health insurance plan.
- Urine tests take about 2 to 5 days to show a positive or negative result.
- Blood tests can come back with results in a few minutes if the blood is analyzed on site. But they can take a week or more if sent to an off-site lab.
- Swab results take about 2 to 3 days to show a positive or negative.
1 to 3 weeks to show up in people with vulvas.
Symptoms may take up a few months to show up. This is because bacteria are living creatures and have an incubation period that affects how long it takes them to cluster together and become infectious.
This incubation period is dependent on a variety of factors, including:
Does Chlamydia Cause Cervical Cancer
No, chlamydia doesn’t cause cervical cancer.
It’s possible to get a sexually transmitted infection by having sex with someone who has an STI, even if they have no symptoms.
The following measures will help protect you from most STIs including chlamydia, gonorrhoea and HIV.
If you have an STI, they’ll also help prevent you from passing it on to someone:
- Use condoms every time you have vaginal or anal sex.
- If you have oral sex , use a condom to cover the penis, or a dam to cover the vulva or anus.
- Avoid sharing sex toys. If you do share them, wash them or cover them with a new condom before anyone else uses them.
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Chlamydia Can Be Spread By Touching
Chlamydia is a bacterial infection that is usually passed on through unprotected sex. You can also catch Chlamydia from just coming into contact with infected genital fluids including semen or vaginal fluids.
You are at risk of catching Chlamydia if you have unprotected vaginal, anal or oral sex. Sharing sex toys that have not been cleaned or covered with a condom with each use also increases the chances of Chlamydia transmission. Simply touching your partners genitals with your genitals is enough to result in infection. This means Chlamydia can be passed on even if there is no penetration, ejaculation or orgasm.
A pregnant woman may pass the infection to her baby if her Chlamydia infection is left untreated.
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How Does Chlamydia Spread
Chlamydia is spread when a person has unprotected sex with an infected person.
Because chlamydial infection often has no symptoms, many people do not realise they have the infection.
Even if you know a person well, you may not be able to tell they have an STI, because people can look healthy and still have chlamydia.
Remember, you can get chlamydia and other STIs from a new sexual partner who has in the past had sex with someone who is infected.
It can also be spread from a long-term partner who has had sex with other people.
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How Is It Treated
Antibiotics are used to treat chlamydia. It’s important to take all of the medicine as directed. Otherwise the medicine may not work. Both sex partners need treatment to keep from passing the infection back and forth.
As soon as you find out you have chlamydia, be sure to let your sex partners know. Experts recommend that you notify everyone you’ve had sex with in the past 2 months. If you have not had sex in the past 2 months, contact the last person you had sex with.
Having a chlamydia infection that was cured does not protect you from getting it again. If you are treated and your sex partner is not, you probably will get it again.
Some people who have chlamydia also have other STIs, such as gonorrhea.
Finding out that you have an STI may make you feel bad about yourself or about sex. Counseling or a support group may help you feel better.
What Are The Risks Of Chlamydia Infection
Untreated chlamydia can lead to many serious health conditions.
Women can develop pelvic inflammatory disease. This can lead to pelvic pain, complications with pregnancy, and fertility difficulties. Sometimes women become infertile from the effects of untreated chlamydia.
Men may develop inflammation of their testicles from untreated chlamydia and may also experience fertility issues.
Babies who acquire chlamydia during childbirth can develop pink eye and pneumonia. Its important for women to be treated for chlamydia during pregnancy to avoid spreading it to an infant.
Sexual behavior of any kind puts you at risk of contracting chlamydia. Some ways to reduce your chances of getting chlamydia include:
- refraining from sexual activity
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What Happens If I Don’t Get 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 . This can cause pelvic inflammatory disease . 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 .
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.
Untreated chlamydia may also increase your chances of getting or giving HIV the virus that causes AIDS.
Can You Drink Alcohol While Taking Azithromycin For Chlamydia
Yes, you may drink a small amount of alcohol while you are taking azithromycin but there is a chance large amounts of alcohol may increase the gastrointestinal side effects of azithromycin, such as nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dyspepsia, or flatulence. Too much alcohol with azithromycin may also give you a headache.
Because azithromycin is usually taken as a one-off dose, drinking alcohol is unlikely to stop azithromycin from curing chlamydia.
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Can Bactrim Be Used To Treat Chlamydia
sulfamethoxazolefor treatment of
. Considering this, what antibiotics are used to treat chlamydia?
If you are diagnosed with chlamydia, your doctor will prescribe oral antibiotics. A single dose of azithromycin or taking doxycycline twice daily for 7 to 14 days are the most common treatments and are the same for those with or without HIV. With treatment, the infection should clear up in about a week.
Also Know, is bactrim ds good for tooth infection? For some patients, doctors prescribed an inexpensive, generic antibiotic called trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, also known as Bactrim, for seven days after the abscess was surgically drained. For others, they prescribed a placebo for seven days.
Likewise, what is the best antibiotic for STDS?
If you have this STD, your doctor will likely prescribe two antibiotics: ceftriaxone and either azithromycin or doxycycline . Ceftriaxone is given as a one-time injection usually a dose of 250 milligrams .
Can you get rid of chlamydia on your own?
Fact: Your body cant get rid of chlamydia on its own. This myth can be a dangerous one. Its very rare that your immune system will be able to tackle chlamydia on its own and cure you of it by itself. If its detected early enough, chlamydia can be treated with antibiotics.
Does Azithromycin Also Cure Chlamydia
Azithromycin was the first choice antibiotic to treat chlamydia until February 2019 when BASHH guidance was issued recommending a 7-day course of doxycycline as the first choice treatment based on recent data. Azithromycin is now recommended only for pregnant women and those with an allergy to doxycycline.
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Exactly How Is Chlamydia Spread Can Chlamydia Be Cured On Its Own
You can obtain chlamydia by having genital, anal, or oral sex with someone that has chlamydia.
If your sex partner is male you can still get chlamydia even if he does not climax.
If you have actually had chlamydia as well as were treated in the past, you can still get contaminated once again. This can occur if you have vulnerable sex with somebody that has chlamydia.
If you are pregnant, you can give chlamydia to your child during childbirth.
Chlamydia Cdc Fact Sheet
Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted disease that can be easily cured. If left untreated, chlamydia can make it difficult for a woman to get pregnant.
Basic Fact Sheet | Detailed Version
Basic fact sheets are presented in plain language for individuals with general questions about sexually transmitted diseases. The content here can be syndicated .
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Natural Treatments For Chlamydia
1. Goldenseal
According to an article in Alternative Medicine Review, the plant alkaloid berberine found in goldenseal demonstrates significant antimicrobial activity against viruses and bacteria, including chlamydia. Also, in a small clinical study, chlamydia of the eye resulted in no relapses, even one year after treatment with eye drops made from berberine. While the results of this trial are positive, it shows promise that goldenseal may be an effective treatment for chlamydia.
Goldenseal is a natural antibiotic used as an immune system stimulant. Researchers believe it limits clinical symptoms during an infection. When fighting an infection such as chlamydia, goldenseal pills or extracts can help. Four to 6 grams per day in tablet or capsule form is the typical recommendation, or 2 milliliters of an extract, 35 times per day. Do not use goldenseal for more than three consecutive weeks.
2. Echinacea
Widely used by generations as a remedy for snake bites, sore throats, colds, coughs, pain, and intestinal upset, Echinacea has also been found to be highly effective against STDs, including gonorrhea and chlamydia. To stimulate the immune system, the United States Department of Agricultures Natural Resources Conservation Service states that recent research recommends doses of 10 mg per kilogram of body weight over 10 days.
3. Garlic
4. Oil of Oregano
5. Probiotics
What To Do If You Have A Culture Of Chlamydia
However, if you have oral chlamydia symptoms, you may need to see your doctor for throat swab culture. The culture of chlamydia takes about 3 7 days. If diagnosed with chlamydia, you can easily be treated and cured with azithromycin or doxycycline tablets. During pregnancy, chlamydia infection can be treated safely with azithromycin.
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Other Complications Of Untreated Chlamydia In All People
- Conjunctivitis, spread by touching the infected area and then touching the hand to the eye
- Inflammation of the mucous membrane of the rectum , if the chlamydia is from anal sex
- Varied symptoms, such as joint and eye inflammation, caused by bacterial infection
- Lymphogranuloma venereum, or LGV. This is caused by a type of chlamydia that is usually rare in the United States, but it is becoming more common in men who have sex with men. It causes open sores in the genital area, headache, fever, fatigue, and swelling of the lymph nodes in the groin. It also causes proctitis in people who get chlamydia through anal sex.
How Can I Prevent Chlamydia
It’s easier to prevent an STI like chlamydia than it is to treat it:
- Don’t have more than one sex partner at a time. The safest sex is with one partner who has sex only with you. Every time you add a new sex partner, you are being exposed to all of the infections that all of their partners may have.
- Use a condom every time you have sex. Latex and polyurethane condoms keep out the viruses and bacteria that cause STIs.
- Be responsible. Don’t have sex if you have symptoms of an infection or if you are being treated for an STI.
- Wait to have sex with a new partner until both of you have been tested for STIs.
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Can You Have Chlamydia For Years
You can have chlamydia for years if it is left untreated. Chlamydia, if left untreated for many years may cause a low grade infection without symptoms.
It could potentially flare up to cause a symptomatic infection, especially if there is an alteration in the persons immune system, such as a severe cold or flu, cancer or some other severe illness.
How Do You Prevent Chlamydia
Using a new male or female condom or dental dam every time you have sex is the best way to protect against chlamydia.
Chlamydia can be passed on by sharing sex toys. Always cover sex toys with a new condom and wash them after use to reduce your risk of getting chlamydia and other STIs.
Its important to regularly test for chlamydia, even if you dont have any symptoms, especially if youve had multiple sexual partners.
The contraceptive pill and other types of contraception wont prevent you getting chlamydia, and neither will PrEP.
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How Soon Can I Have Sex Again
Dont have oral, vaginal or anal sex, or use sex toys, until you and your partner have both finished the treatment and any symptoms have gone. This is to help prevent you being re-infected or passing the infection on to someone else.
If youre given antibiotic treatment called azithromycin, youll still need to avoid sex for seven days after starting the treatment as thats how long it takes to work.
What Increases Your Risk
Risk factors for getting chlamydia include:
- Having unprotected sex .
- Having more than one sex partner.
- Having a high-risk partner or partners. This includes people who have more than one sex partner or sex partners who have chlamydia.
- Starting sexual activity before age 18.
Any child with chlamydia needs to be seen by a doctor to determine the cause and to assess for possible sexual abuse. For more information, see the topic Child Abuse and Neglect.
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Chlamydia Can Sometimes Go Away On Its Own
Some diseases and infections can go away on their own, so its not surprising that people wonder: does chlamydia go away on its own? The truth is, it sometimes does. In about 20% of people who have no symptoms, chlamydia may resolve spontaneously without treatment. It means that under certain circumstances host immune responses can control chlamydia naturally.
Untreated chlamydia can go on without any symptoms for a long period of time. Thats why its so important to get tested and catch it early. When chlamydia isnt treated, it can cause a number of serious complications. In women, the infection can spread to the uterus and uterine tubes, while in men, it can spread to the prostate gland. Chlamydia can also cause reactive arthritis, which affects your joints and eyes.
When chlamydia isnt treated, it can cause a number of serious complications.
Some people claim that chlamydia can be treated with home remedies like garlic and turmeric, but these methods are unproven and should be avoided. The only proven cure for chlamydia is treatment with antibiotics, which usually clear up the infection in a week or two.