How Do People Get Chlamydia

Does The Nhs Provide Testing Too

Yes you can get the chlamydia test on the NHS. You can get tested whether or not you have symptoms.

You can get tested at either one of the following and should choose the one you are most comfortable with:

• A sexual health clinic

• Most contraceptive or young peoples clinic

• Some pharmacies

• Abortion, antenatal or gynaecology services may also offer women a chlamydia test

• Local councils also pay for free testing in men and women under the age of 25 in their area, as part of the NCSP they may also locally advertise outreach testing in places such as colleges, youth clubs or military bases

How soon after sex do I need to get the test? you can get tested straight away, but you may be advised to have another test after two weeks, as chlamydia is more difficult to detect in the early stage.

Can I do the test myself? yes, you dont necessarily need to be examined by a healthcare professional and you can usually collect the sample yourself.

Home testing if you dont want to visit your GP or a clinic, you can order a free NHS home self-testing kit. This is available online in certain areas from www.nhs.uk/. This may be quicker and easier.

What does the test involve? a urine or swab sample is needed. The swab is similar to a cotton bud but it is smaller and rounder. The swab is wiped over parts of your body that could be infected and it easily picks up a sample of cells or discharge.

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Who Should Be Tested For Chlamydia

You should go to your health provider for a test if you have symptoms of chlamydia, or if you have a partner who has a sexually transmitted disease. Pregnant women should get a test when they go to their first prenatal visit.

People at higher risk should get checked for chlamydia every year:

• Sexually active women 25 and younger
• Older women who have new or multiple sex partners, or a sex partner who has a sexually transmitted disease
• Men who have sex with men

How Long Does It Take To Show Up In People With Penises

Theres no significant difference in the amount of time it takes for chlamydia symptoms to show up for people with penises as compared to people with vulvas.

The only major difference in the time it takes for symptoms to show up among people of various sexes may be related to how often symptoms show up.

According to the Childrens National Health System, 90 percent of people with vulvas dont ever experience any physical symptoms, while 70 percent of people with penises never notice any symptoms.

This difference in who actually experiences symptoms between these two groups may have some effect on how long it takes for symptoms show up. But theres never been any definitive link between your sex and when your symptoms appear.

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How Do Doctors Diagnose Chlamydia

If you think you may have had contact with someone infected with Chlamydia, there is a reliable way to determine if you have it as well.

Doctors can do NAATs , which are done by getting urine samples or doing vaginal swabs. The vaginal swabs are the best way for women to test for chlamydia and urine samples work best for men.

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People At Increased Risk

People of all ages can get sick from C. pneumoniae. It most commonly infects people for the first time when they are school-aged children or young adults. However, reinfection is most common in older adults.

People at increased risk include those who live or work in crowded settings where outbreaks most commonly occur8, such as:

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What Do I Need To Know If I Get Treated For Chlamydia

If youre getting treated for chlamydia:

• Take all of your medicine the way your nurse or doctor tells you to, even if any symptoms you may be having go away sooner. The infection stays in your body until you finish the antibiotics.
• Your partner should also get treated for chlamydia so you dont re-infect each other or anyone else.
• Dont have sex for 7 days. If you only have 1 dose of medication, wait for 7 days after you take it before having sex. If youre taking medicine for 7 days, dont have sex until youve finished all of your pills.
• Get tested again in 3-4 months to make sure your infection is gone.
• Dont share your medicine with anyone. Your nurse or doctor may give you a separate dose of antibiotics for your partner. Make sure you both take all of the medicine you get.
• Even if you finish your treatment and the chlamydia is totally gone, its possible to get a new chlamydia infection again if youre exposed in the future. Chlamydia isnt a one-time-only deal. So use condoms and get tested regularly.

What Is A Chlamydia Infection

Chlamydia is among the most common STDs in the world. Many people have it its estimated that 1 in 20 sexually active young women aged 14-24 has chlamydia.

The main cause for chlamydia is the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis that affects both men and women. The chlamydia infection is easily spread because it often has no symptoms and you can unknowingly pass it to your sexual partner.

Although you dont have outward symptoms in the early stages, its important to be careful. If you dont treat it on time, chlamydia can cause infertility or a risky pregnancy.

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You Can Get Chlamydia More Than Once

With some diseases, having one infection makes you immune to future infections. That’s not the case with chlamydia. If you engage in sexual activity with a person who has a chlamydia infection, you can get it again, even if you’ve just completed treatment for it.

“Both partners should be treated before reinitiating sexual intercourse to prevent relapse,” Schaffir says.

What Are The Symptoms

Chlamydia is known as a silent infection because most infected people have no symptoms. If symptoms do occur, they may not appear until several weeks after exposure. Even when it causes no symptoms, chlamydia can damage a womans reproductive organs.

In women, the bacteria first infect the cervix and/or the urethra . Some infected women have an abnormal vaginal discharge or a burning sensation when urinating. Untreated infections can spread upward to the uterus and fallopian tubes , causing pelvic inflammatory disease . PID can be silent, or can cause symptoms such as abdominal and pelvic pain. Even if PID causes no symptoms initially, it can lead to infertility and other complications later on.

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Can Chlamydia Be Prevented

The only way to prevent chlamydia and other STDs is to not have sex . If someone decides to have sex, they can lower their risk of getting an STD by:

• using a latex condom every time they have sex
• getting tested with any new partners before having sex
• only having sex with one partner

Anyone who is sexually active should get tested for STDs every year .

What Is The Treatment

If you or your partner do not finish the treatment, miss pills or have unprotected sex before you have finished all of the medication, there is a chance that the infection will stay in your body may pass back to you or your partner and cause health problems later. If this happens, talk with your health care provider who will help you to decide if you or your partners need more treatment.

Because re-infection is common, a follow-up test is recommended 6 months after treatment. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, have a follow-up test 3 to 4 weeks after completing treatment.

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What Is The Treatment For Chlamydia

Chlamydia can be easily cured with antibiotics. HIV-positive persons with chlamydia should receive the same treatment as those who are HIV-negative.

Persons with chlamydia should abstain from sexual activity for 7 days after single dose antibiotics or until completion of a 7-day course of antibiotics, to prevent spreading the infection to partners. It is important to take all of the medication prescribed to cure chlamydia. Medication for chlamydia should not be shared with anyone. Although medication will cure the infection, it will not repair any permanent damage done by the disease. If a persons symptoms continue for more than a few days after receiving treatment, he or she should return to a health care provider to be reevaluated.

Repeat infection with chlamydia is common.49 Women whose sex partners have not been appropriately treated are at high risk for re-infection. Having multiple chlamydial infections increases a womans risk of serious reproductive health complications, including pelvic inflammatory disease and ectopic pregnancy.50,51 Women and men with chlamydia should be retested about three months after treatment of an initial infection, regardless of whether they believe that their sex partners were successfully treated.40

Infants infected with chlamydia may develop ophthalmia neonatorum and/or pneumonia.10 Chlamydial infection in infants can be treated with antibiotics.

How Is Chlamydia Diagnosed And Treated

If you have chlamydia symptoms or had intercourse with someone without protection, you should inform your doctor about testing or take a home chlamydia test.

Chlamydia can be detected at home. You should get a chlamydia test kit and use urine for your test.

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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How Can Chlamydia Be Prevented

Safe sexual behavior and seeking proper health care can help keep people from becoming infected or re-infected with chlamydia and from experiencing chlamydia complications.

• Limit the number of sex partners,Practice sexual abstinence, or limit sexual contact to one uninfected partner.
• Get a screening test.If you are young, sexually active, and do not use condoms correctly every time you have sex, you should be screened for chlamydia at least once a year. It has been shown that screening and treatment of women with chlamydia infection of the cervix reduces the likelihood of PID. All pregnant women should have a screening test for chlamydia.

If you think you are infected, avoid sexual contact, and see a health care provider immediately.

Any genital signs or symptoms such as discharge or burning during urination or an unusual sore or rash should be a signal to stop having sex and to consult a health care provider immediately.

If you are told you are infected, notify all your sex partners immediately.

If you are told you have chlamydia or any other STD and receive drug treatment, you should notify all of your recent sex partners so that they can see a health care provider and be treated. A sex partner needs treatment even if he has no symptoms. This will reduce the risk that your partners will develop serious complications from chlamydia and reduce your risk of becoming re-infected. Do not have sex until both you and your sex partner complete your chlamydia drug treatment.

How Did I Get Chlamydia If I Didnt Cheat

A note from Cleveland Clinic

It can be embarrassing to talk about anything sex-related with your healthcare provider, including STI prevention. But your sex life is an important part of your health that your provider needs to know about to care for you. Not getting the treatment you need for chlamydia can pose serious risks to your health. Speak with your provider about getting regularly screened for chlamydia and other STIs to reduce your risks of complications. Practice safer sex to prevent the spread of chlamydia.

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Probability Of Chlamydia Transmission

If someone knows or suspects they have been exposed to chlamydia, they should get tested as soon as possible, so that they can have the infection diagnosed and treated if necessary. They should also abstain from sexual activities until they have been tested and received the all-clear.

That said, if someone has had unprotected sex with an infected person, it does not necessarily mean they definitely have chlamydia.

Estimated transmission rates tend to vary and, as discussed above, the likelihood of infection depends on the sexual act performed but Professor Victoria von Sadovszky, an expert from the Ohio State University College of Nursing, states that the transmission rate from a single unprotected exposure is thought to be around 25 percent.

Other estimates put the male-to-female transmission rate from one sexual instance at 40 percent and the female-to-male transmission rate at 32 percent.

Obviously, the more someone has sex with an infected person, the higher the chances of transmission become.

Using barrier protection can reduce the chances of picking up the infection dramatically. Provided they are used accordingly, condoms are thought to be 99 percent effective at reducing the transmission of STIs.

Find out more about preventing chlamydia transmission on our information page.

Best Way To Treat Chlamydia

The bacterial invaders that make up chlamydia are a hardy bunch, but when they meet a powerful antibiotic they tend to meet their demise rather quickly. Can you get rid of chlamydia? With antibiotics like doxycycline or azithromycin coursing through your body you certainly can. You need to get that prescription first, so again we cant state strongly enough how important it is that you get into a doctors office as soon as possible.

Once you start taking one of these oral antibiotics prescribed by your doctor then you can expect your chlamydia infection to be overcome within a week or two. Do not stop taking the medication before you finish ALL of it. This is very important, as some people will discontinue it after their symptoms are no longer present but then they find their infection returns and theyre right back at the beginning.

Take all of the medication EXACTLY as your physician tells you to, and finish the entirety of the vial. Can you get rid of chlamydia? Yes, but you need to do exactly as your doctor advises you.

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Getting Tested And Treated For Chlamydia

If you have had unprotected sex and you think you may have been exposed to chlamydia or another STI you should get tested. If youre diagnosed you should let your partner know and get treated before you have sex again.

You can do this for free at your GP surgery, a sexual health clinic or a GUM clinic. You can also order home test kits from LloydsPharmacy Online Doctor.You should get tested if you are experiencing the kinds of symptoms described above, or if your sexual partner has been diagnosed with chlamydia. If you are under 25 and sexually active its recommended that you get tested at least once a year, and every time you change sexual partners whether or not you have symptoms.

Click here to visit our sexual health tests for men page and order test kits for chlamydia and other STIs.

References

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Can You Prevent Chlamydia

You can lower your risk of getting chlamydia and other STIs by:

• not having sex with someone with chlamydia, even with a condom, until theyve finished treatment and 1 week has passed since their last dose of antibiotics
• regularly getting tested for STIs, especially if you are under 30 and sexually active

Remember that most people with chlamydia dont show any symptoms and dont know they have it, so feeling ‘well’ does not mean that you or your partner are not infected. If in doubt, get tested.

If you have chlamydia, you can help reduce the spread by letting your recent sexual partners know so they can get tested and treated.

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How Can Doctors Tell If I Have Chlamydia

• Doctors suspect chlamydia based on your symptoms

If youre pregnant or are at higher risk of having chlamydia, your doctor may do a urine test for chlamydia when you dont have any symptoms. Women are at higher risk if they:

• Are having sex and are under age 25

• Have ever had an STI

• Do risky sexual activities

• Have a partner who does risky sexual activities

Men are at higher risk if they:

• Have had sex with a man in the past year

Doctors may also test your blood or urine for other STIs because many people have more than one STI.

Dont Delay Your Chlamydia Screening

At Rapid STD Testing, you will receive the answers you need concerning your body. Whether you have concerns about chlamydia, trichomoniasis, or how to test for herpes, we offer quick, confidential screenings.

If you think a recent exposure to an STD is likely, dont delay. Contact Rapid STD Testing at and explore your testing and treatment options today.

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How To Use The Selfcheck Female Chlamydia Test Kit

The SELFCheck Female Chlamydia Test comes with everything you need to conduct the test.

Do not use the SELFCheck Female Chlamydia Test during pregnancy or menstruation. Wait for 3 days after the end your period before using this test.

Do not use this test if you have a urinary tract infection .

Avoid urinating for at least one hour before carrying out the test.

Full instructions on how to perform the test can be found enclosed with the packaging. Its important to carefully follow the instructions supplied with the test kit. Failing to follow the instructions correctly can affect the result of the test and may result in a false-negative or false-positive result.

The test kit uses a swab, a buffer solution and a testing cassette.

2.) Leave the swab in the bottle for 5 minutes. After these 5 minutes have elapsed, squeeze the swab against the side of the bottle and discard of the swab.

7.) After 15 minutes, check your result.

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