Drugs For Chlamydia And Gonorrhea

Chlamydia Treatment And Prevention

Milly DawsonSanjai Sinha, MDShutterstock

Chlamydia is easy to cure. If you test positive for chlamydia, basically you take an antibiotic, says Jill Rabin, MD, cochief in the division of ambulatory care for women’s health programs and prenatal care assistance program services for Northwell Health in New Hyde Park, New York.

Your partner must take an antibiotic, too, to keep them from reinfecting you, she says.

You have to have your partner treated, and if you have more than one partner, they should all be treated, says Dr. Rabin, regardless of your partners genders.

Even if you dont have chlamydia now, its wise to learn how to protect yourself so you wont develop this common infection in the first place. In women, chlamydia can create serious health problems, including infertility. Besides, no one ever wants to have a sexually transmitted disease and then have to tell other people about it.

Antibiotics For Chlamydia And Gonorrhea

By | Submitted On June 17, 2010

At times, an individual infected with gonorrhea also suffers from Chlamydia which is also a sexually transmitted disease. The bacterium causing Chlamydia is also responsible for infections of the eyes in humans. Aside from the infections it causes to man, they also pose harm to species of birds and a number of livestock.

The antibiotics used to treat both gonorrhea and Chlamydia kills the bacteria in the body but should be prescribed by a doctor after a positive diagnosis of gonorrhea through a test. However, antibiotics are not enough but it should be accompanied with abstinence of any form of sexual contact for a period of at least 7 days to prevent complications. If antibiotics are given to cure pregnant women, the disease can be prevented from being transmitted to the unborn child.

Strictly following the instructions of the doctor in taking the dosage of antibiotics can lead to completely curing the disease. Unfortunately, it has been found out that some strains of pathogens have become resistant to antibiotics making killing the bacteria impossible. Some of these drugs are quinolines, tetracycline, penicillin and sulfa drugs.

Today, since gonorrhea is accompanied by Chlamydia infection, the type of treatment given to the person should address both diseases. A person receiving antibiotics should be careful not to miss the doses, because if he fails to do so, the whole treatment procedure becomes useless.

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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Drug Treatment Of Common Stds: Part I Herpes Syphilis Urethritis Chlamydia And Gonorrhea

CAROL WOODWARD, PHARM.D., West Virginia University Hospitals, Morgantown, West Virginia

MELANIE A. FISHER, M.D., M.SC., West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia

Am Fam Physician. 1999 Oct 1 60:1387-1394.

This is Part I of a two-part article on drug treatment of common sexually transmitted diseases. Part II, Vaginal Infections, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease and Genital Warts, will appear in the next issue of AFP.

• References

Several advances have been made in the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases . These advances have been incorporated into the 1998 Guidelines for the Treatment of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .1

Highly effective single-dose oral therapies are now available for most common curable STDs. Single-dose regimens may be used for the treatment of chancroid, nongonococcal urethritis, uncomplicated gonococcal infections, bacterial vaginosis, trichomoniasis, candidal vaginitis and chlamydial infections.

Improved therapies are now available for the treatment of genital herpes and human papillomavirus infections. New regimens have been approved for the use of acyclovir in the treatment of genital herpes. In addition, two new antiviral agents, valacyclovir and famciclovir , have been labeled for the treatment of genital herpes. Patient-applied therapies are now recommended for management of HPV.

Symptoms Of Gonorrhea And Chlamydia

Sometimes someone with gonorrhea or chlamydia does not show any symptoms.

In fact, 75% of women and 50% of men with chlamydia exhibit no symptoms.

It is unclear how common it is with gonorrhea, but some estimates are that the majority of men and women show no symptoms.

Even with no symptoms, it is still possible to transmit the disease and damage the reproductive system. The key signs of gonorrhea and chlamydia can appear within one to three weeks after having sex with a partner with the STD.

There are some differences in how both STDs present in men vs women, but in general the most common reported symptoms in both men and women are:

• Discharge For chlamydia, women may have vaginal discharge that has a strong odor or is yellowish, and men may have cloudy or clear discharge around the tip of the penis. For Gonorrhea, women and men may have discharge from the vagina or penis that is green, yellow, or white.
• Burning sensation while urinating Also called dysuria, this symptom is common with other STDs and is an important sign to get tested.
• Painful, burning sensations in infected area For both STDs, this is most common inside the vagina for women and the penal opening for men. Additionally, throat infections from oral sex are common and can result in swollen glands in the throat.

Women can also have painful periods, bleeding between periods, pain during sex, abdominal pain, or a fever.

• Discharge
• Rectal pain

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Female Complications Of Untreated Chlamydia

Some women develop PID, an infection that can damage the uterus, cervix, and ovaries. PID is a painful disease that often requires hospital treatment.

Women can also become infertile if chlamydia is left untreated because the fallopian tubes may become scarred.

Pregnant women with the infection can pass the bacteria to their babies during birth, which can cause eye infections and pneumonia in newborns.

How To Take It

Azithromycin is taken one time orally and can be taken with or without food. Its important to take it as directed by your doctor.

It takes approximately 1 week for azithromycin to cure chlamydia. Avoid having sex while under treatment, as its still possible to pass or worsen the infection during treatment.

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Get Retested Following Treatment

Many people have more than one chlamydia infection. If youre a girl or woman and your sex partners are not treated for the infection, you will be at high risk for reinfection. Repeated infections with chlamydia make it much more likely that your ability to have children will be affected. Repeated infections also raise your risk of painful complications, such as pelvic inflammatory disease.

Both women and men with chlamydia should be retested about three months after they are first diagnosed and treated. Go to be retested even if you think your sex partners were successfully treated.

How Can I Prevent Getting Chlamydia And Gonorrhea

Get some information about their sexual history. Get some information about any recently treated diseases. Have safe sex with right utilization of a condom. Utilize a condom each time you have vaginal, oral, or butt-centric sex. Get tried for explicitly sent diseases in the event that you or your partner are not mono

gamous

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What Are The Side Effects Of Chlamydia Treatment

While doxycycline is an effective treatment for chlamydia, some people may have side effects when taking this chlamydia treatment.

Some common doxycycline side effects may include:

• headaches

• stomach ulcers
• joint or muscle pain

If you have any side effects when taking doxycycline, tell your doctor as soon as possible.

The full list of doxycycline side effects and cautions can be found in the patient information leaflet that comes with your medicine package.

When taking doxycycline, you should avoid drinking alcohol as it reduces doxycyclines effectiveness. You should also avoid sunlight as increased sensitivity to light has been reported as a side effect of doxycycline.

You should stop taking doxycycline and seek immediate medical attention if you develop any of the following rare but severe side effects, or symptoms of an allergic reaction:

• Ringing in your ear
• Fever, swollen lymph nodes or skin rash
• Symptoms of an allergic reaction such as difficulty breathing, wheezing, chest pain, swollen face, lips, mouth, hand or feet

Use In Pregnancy And Breastfeeding

Doxycycline is labelled as Pregnancy Category D in the FDA classification. So, doxycycline should be avoided during pregnancy because of severe adverse effects including teratogenicity, permanent yellowish-brown teeth discoloration after in utero exposure and rare fatal hepatotoxicity, and is therefore contraindicated past the fifth week of pregnancy. However, despite this categorization as a class D agent, doxycycline was FDA approved for use in pregnant women following exposure to biothreat agents, including Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis and Francisella tularensis.

Recently, a systematic review of doxycycline in pregnant women revealed a safety profile significantly different from that of tetracycline with no correlation between the use of doxycycline and teratogenic effects during pregnancy or dental staining in children.

Although doxycycline produces measurable milk levels, it is not contraindicated during the nursing period.

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How To Take Amoxicillin For Std Treatment

Obviously, you should always follow your doctors orders before taking any medication. When prescribed with an antibiotic, a medical professional will provide you with the specific information you need. For the rest of us, here are the basics of how amoxicillin should be taken.

Amoxicillin is rarely a single dose treatment. It should be taken orally a few times a day, usually every 8 or 12 hours. The drug works most efficiently when taken at around the same time each day. If you accidentally miss a dose, make sure to take it as soon as possible. But if it is almost time to take the next dose, you may need to simply skip over the dose you missed. In this situation, its best to contact the prescribing doctor for further instruction.

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Always Practice Safe Sex

Notice how this is under a section titled How can you reduce your risk. Reduce being the operative word. Even if you always wear a condom or a dental dam, theres a risk of infection. This is because some diseases are spread from skin to skin contact, from bodily fluids touching a part of your body, or from defective prophylactics.

This includes vaginal, anal, and oral sex. So if youre in high school and think that by going down on someone youre safe, hopefully youre reading this before going to that party.

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Neisseria Gonorrhoeae Resistance Frequency

N. gonorrhoeae 49226 was tested against SPC or 1950 at 4à and 8à the MIC as determined by agar dilution testing. Aliquots of 40à stock solutions were mixed with GC medium agar1% IsoVitaleX to produce a molten agar-drug mixture that was either 4- or 8-fold the MIC. Mixture was poured into plates in duplicate and allowed to solidify at room temperature for at least 1 h. A dense cell suspension equivalent to 5 McFarland was prepared using bacterial growth from chocolate agar plates of N. gonorrhoeae ATCC 49226. This cell suspension provided the inoculum for the spontaneous mutation plates, targeting 109 CFU per plate. The viable count of each suspension was determined by plating serial 10-fold dilutions onto agar in duplicate. A 0.25-ml aliquot of inoculum was spread onto the surface of duplicate 150- by 15-mm test plates and allowed to dry. The plates were inverted and incubated at 35°C for 48 h. Plates were inspected for growth at both 24 and 48 h, and colony counts were determined manually. Using the counts at 48 h, the spontaneous mutation frequency was calculated using the following equation: average number of colonies from duplicate selection plates divided by total number of cells inoculated onto each plate. If there were no colonies on the antibiotic selection plates, the spontaneous mutation frequency was calculated as 1/inoculum to indicate that the spontaneous mutation frequency was less than the limit of detection .

Chlamydia Antibiotics: Azithromycin Vs Doxycline

A test was conducted on data between 1975 and 2001 to find and compare the efficacy and differences between Azithromycin and Doxycycline. The patients were randomly given dosages of either Azithromycin or Doxycycline in the prescribed quantities of one 1g dosage of Azithroymycin and two dosages of 100mg twice a day for a week with no patient getting both. The tests were conducted on 1543 patients for checking the microbial efficacy of the drugs and on 1717 patients for checking any adverse effects of the drug. Cure rates of about 98% were found out for both the Chlamydia Antibiotics proving the efficacy of both as equally compelling.

However, azithromycin is more convinent as it is just 1 dose antibiotic. Overall one dosage of Azithromycin has proved to be very impactful in comparison to the multiple dosages of Doxycycline.

Signs & Symptoms

Chlamydia is known to be a silent or asymptomatic disease and about 50% of infected men and 60% of infected women dont show any signs or symptoms initially.

Women are prone to be more asymptomatic than men. This means women generally show no symptoms and act as carriers of the diseases.

However women are at greater risk from long term complications and hence it is important to get treated.

Chlamydia in Women

Chlamydia in Men

Again 25-50% men show little or no symptoms. Symptoms when they show up include painful urination, discharge from the tip of the penis and testicular inflammation and pain.

References:

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Getting Treated For Chlamydia And Often Gonorrhea

If you have your own doctor, he will prescribe the antibiotics you need to treat chlamydia. If you dont have your own doctor, you can often find free or low-cost care at either a Planned Parenthood site or a community health clinic.

Listen carefully to the instructions for taking the medicine that you are given by the doctor or other healthcare provider, and follow them closely.

Ask questions if you dont understand something. Also, if you have other questions as you take your medicine, you can always call the pharmacist for help. They are often easier to reach than the doctor.

If you test positive for chlamydia, your healthcare provider is likely to also recommend that you be treated for gonorrhea. This is because the cost of treating gonorrhea is less than the cost of testing for the infection.

Put Sex On Hold During And After Chlamydia Treatment

If you were given a single dose of antibiotics to treat your chlamydia, you should not have any kind of sex for a full seven days after the day you took the medicine. If youre taking antibiotics for a week, wait another seven days after the last day of your treatment. Be sure to take all of the medicine that is prescribed for you.

Not having sex for seven days after treatment is important so you dont spread the infection to your partner or partners.

Medication stops the infection and can keep you from spreading the disease, but it wont cure any permanent damage that the infection caused before you started treatment. In women, such damage can include blocking the fallopian tubes, causing infertility.

If you still have symptoms for more than a few days after you stop taking your medicine, go back to see your doctor or other healthcare provider so they can check you again.

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How Soon Is Chlamydia Contagious

Therefore, they do not know they have the disease. The incubation period for chlamydia is quite variable and may range from days to months after the initial exposure. The average time from exposure to the development of symptoms is usually about one to three weeks after sexual contact with an infected person.

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The Sex Superbug: Gonorrhoea

Gonorrhoea may be on the verge of becoming an untreatable disease. Gonorrhoea is caused by a bacteria, and it is treated with two drugs but resistance is already developing to one of the drugs. Soon we may have no treatment options remaining for multi-drug resistant gonorrhoea infections.

Those diagnosed with gonorrhoea are at risk of serious complications and untreated, the disease can cause inflammation of the womb and infertility. The infection can also be passed from a pregnant woman to her baby.

Infection in pregnant women can lead to early labour and delivery or permanent blindness in a newborn baby.

There were 87 million new cases gonorrhoea amount men and women aged 15-49 years in 2016.

WHO/Yoshi Shimizu. Testing for sexually transmitted infections in Mongolia.

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