How Long Before Signs Of Chlamydia

How Long Does It Take For Chlamydia To Go Away

How long does it take for Chlamydia to clear up? Can you have Chlamydia for years and not know it? These are questions that give headache to a lot of women at some point in their lives.

Chlamydia is a bacterial infection with the Chlamydia infectious agent, which is transmitted through sexual contact. It`s among the most common STDs in the world. Chlamydia infects the urethra in men and the cervix, urethra and superior reproductive organs in women. Chlamydia can also infect the rectum, eye surface and eyelids.

An infected mother can transmit the infection to her baby during childbirth. Between 50% and 70% of infants are born from infected mothers. They acquire the infection in the eyes, rectum, vagina and the back of the throat. Between 30% and 40% of these infected neonates develop complications, like conjunctivitis or pneumonia.

Chlamydia increases the risk of human immunodeficiency virus infection, in case of exposure.

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Signs And Symptoms Of Chlamydia

Chlamydia is known as one of the silent diseases which can produce no symptoms for a long period of time. Approximately 7095 percent of women and 50 percent of men with chlamydia do not observe chlamydia symptoms at all. The symptoms can also be mild and almost unnoticeable.

Another reason why symptoms are not the best way to determine the infection is that it is often confused with gonorrhea as the symptoms are very much alike. Asymptomatic nature of chlamydia makes it difficult to estimate how long a person remains infectious and this period is commonly believed to last until full recovery.

Chlamydia symptoms show up between 1 and 3 weeks after the contraction.

What Happens If I Dont 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 doesnt 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.

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Youre Not Immune To Chlamydia Once Youve Had It

Once youve had some diseases, you cant catch them again. Unfortunately, this isnt true for chlamydia. Repeat chlamydia infections are common.

If youve had chlamydia in the past, you have no immunity against the infection. If youre sexually active with somebody who has the infection, you could catch it again. Since reinfection is common, you should get tested for chlamydia about three months after being treated for the infection.

Im Pregnant How Does Chlamydia Affect My Baby

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.

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How Do You Get Chlamydia

Chlamydia is usually passed on through unprotected vaginal, anal or oral sex.

Chlamydia can be passed on through genital contact. This means you can get chlamydia from someone who has the infection if your genitals touch, even if you dont have sex or ejaculate .

You can also get chlamydia if you come into contact with infected semen or vaginal fluid, or get them in your eye.

Chlamydia cant be passed on through kissing, hugging, sharing towels or using the same toilet as someone with the infection.

Chlamydia Symptoms In Women:

• testicular pain and/or swelling
• swollen skin around the anus

Depending on the localization of the infection, women, men and children may experience inflamed rectum, urethra or eyelids. The symptoms of mouth and throat infections are rare although a person can suffer a sore throat. Eyes infected with chlamydia can be itchy, swelled, cause painful sensations or produce discharge similar to conjunctivitis. Infection in the rectum results in bleeding, chlamydia discharge and pain.

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Young Sexually Active Women Are Most Susceptible

Women between ages 15 and 24 are most likely to be newly infected with chlamydia, according to the CDC, but anyone who is sexually active male or female can be infected. Men who have oral or anal sex with men are also at risk, notes the CDC. The CDC recommends regular chlamydia screenings for people at an increased risk of contracting it.

You should be screened annually for chlamydia if you are:

• A sexually active woman under age 25
• A woman age 25 or older who has multiple sexual partners
• A woman whose sexual partner may have multiple sexual partners
• Pregnant and under age 25 or pregnant and age 25 or older with an increased risk
• A man who has sex with men
• At an increased risk for other health reasons

I would emphasize that young women should be screened if they engage in any sexual behavior that puts them at risk because often has no symptoms, and early treatment is important to avoid long-term damage and infertility, Dr. Schaffir says.

Screening for chlamydia is painless: It usually involves testing a urine sample or a specimen swabbed from the vagina or penis. Some lab tests for chlamydia can use specimens from the throat or rectum.

How Long Does It Take To Test Positive For Chlamydia

Almost 3 million new cases of chlamydia are reportedevery single year, which means 1 in 20 sexually active young people havechlamydia. With such a prevalent STI like this one, its very important to getregularly tested.

Anyone who has unprotected sex is exposed to chlamydia and can get this infection during genital, anal, or oral sex. This bacteria is treatable, but if left undetected for a long time, it can cause infertility or other serious health problems.

The real problem is that chlamydia often shows no signs and no symptoms, which means people are at risk of transmitting this infection without having a clue they are infected. Those who do get tested, but decide to do it too early will not get adequate results. Thats why timing is crucial for chlamydia testing.

Here we will focus on how long it takes forchlamydia to show up on tests, why is the incubation period important, and howit affects the test results in both men and women.

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What Are The Symptoms Of Chlamydia

Chlamydia is known as a silent infection because most infected people are asymptomatic and lack abnormal physical examination findings. Estimates of the proportion of chlamydia-infected people who develop symptoms vary by setting and study methodology two published studies that incorporated modeling techniques to address limitations of point prevalence surveys estimated that only about 10% of men and 5-30% of women with laboratory-confirmed chlamydial infection develop symptoms.21.22 The incubation period of chlamydia is poorly defined. However, given the relatively slow replication cycle of the organism, symptoms may not appear until several weeks after exposure in those persons who develop symptoms.

In women, the bacteria initially infect the cervix, where the infection may cause signs and symptoms of cervicitis , and sometimes the urethra, which may result in signs and symptoms of urethritis . Infection can spread from the cervix to the upper reproductive tract , causing pelvic inflammatory disease , which may be asymptomatic 23 or acute, with typical symptoms of abdominal and/or pelvic pain, along with signs of cervical motion tenderness, and uterine or adnexal tenderness on examination.

Men who are symptomatic typically have urethritis, with a mucoid or watery urethral discharge and dysuria. A minority of infected men develop epididymitis , presenting with unilateral testicular pain, tenderness, and swelling.24

What Are The Potential Complications

If treated in time, chlamydia causes no lasting concerns. Untreated chlamydia can lead to complications as the infection spreads to other areas of the body.

Untreated chlamydia may cause sexually-acquired reactive arthritis, which includes skin, eye and joint problems. It is also associated with a higher chance of getting HIV.

In women, complications may include difficulty getting pregnant, ectopic or tubal pregnancy or pelvic inflammatory disease . See HealthLinkBC File #08c Pelvic Inflammatory Disease for more information.

In men, complications may include an infection in the testicles, which can lead to infertility.

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What Happens If Chlamydia Isn’t Treated

Only some people who have chlamydia will have complications. If chlamydia is treated early, its unlikely to cause any long-term problems. But, without proper treatment, the infection can spread to other parts of the body. The more times you have chlamydia the more likely you are to get complications.

• If you have a vulva, chlamydia can spread to other reproductive organs causing pelvic inflammatory disease . This can lead to long-term pelvic pain, blocked fallopian tubes, infertility and ectopic pregnancy .
• In people with a vulva, chlamydia can also cause pain and inflammation around the liver, though this is rare. This usually gets better with the correct antibiotic treatment.
• If you have a penis, chlamydia can lead to infection in the testicles. If this isnt treated, theres a possibility it could affect your fertility but more research is needed to understand how likely this is.
• Rarely, chlamydia can lead to inflammation of the joints. This is known as Sexually Acquired Reactive Arthritis and is sometimes accompanied by inflammation of the urethra and the eye. This is more likely to occur in people with a penis than people with a vulva.

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How Does Someone Get Chlamydia

Chlamydia is passed through oral, anal, or vaginal sex. Chlamydia can be passed from one person to another even if the penis or tongue does not go all the way into the vagina or anus.Eye infections can occur when discharge caries the disease into the eye during sex or hand-to-eye contact.

Chlamydia can also be passed from mother to newborn as the baby passes through the infected birth canal. This can result in eye infections, pneumonia or other complications.

Early Signs Among Men

• NO SYMPTOMS AT ALL
• Unfortunately, this scenario is especially common among men. In some instances, a vaguely flu-like illness may be experienced and easily overlooked.

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How Soon Can You Be Tested

Every STD has its own incubation period. For some STDs, the body begins to produce antibodies and symptoms in as little as a few days. For others, it can take weeks or months for symptoms to appear. Here are the ranges of incubation periods for some of the most common STDs.

While retesting is recommended for bacterial STDs, some STDs are lifelong viral infections. In the case of a lifelong viral infection, a blood test will always detect the STD, even after treatment has been successful. Therefore, retesting would only be necessary if you wanted to reconfirm an original diagnosis.

How Long Does It Take For Std Symptoms To Show Up

The time from infection until symptoms manifest if they appear at all varies widely, and depends on the specific pathogen and the individual. All too often, symptoms do not appear at all, or they go unnoticed. Despite this, an STD should never be ignored. Left untreated, many STDs can progress and cause permanent, irreversible harm.Note that an infected person remains capable of transmitting infection to other people, regardless of any symptoms. Depending on the specific pathogen symptoms of STD may appear within four to five days or four to five weeks. Some infections might yield noticeable symptoms even months after the initial infection.

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Do I Need To Have A Test To Check That The Chlamydia Has Gone

If you take the treatment according to the instructions, you wont usually need a test to check the chlamydia has gone.

If youre aged under 25, you should be offered a repeat test 3 months after finishing the treatment. This is because youre at a higher risk of getting chlamydia again.

Whatever your age, you may need a repeat test or more treatment if:

• you think youve come into contact with chlamydia again
• you had sex without a condom with a partner before the treatment for both of you was finished
• you didnt complete the treatment or didnt take it according to the instructions
• the signs and symptoms dont go away
• your test was negative but you develop signs or symptoms of chlamydia
• youre pregnant.

A repeat test can be done 56 weeks after the first test.

If the chlamydia was in your rectum , you may need another test around 3 weeks after finishing the treatment. Your doctor, nurse or clinic will let you know if you need another test.

You can go back to the doctor, nurse or clinic if you have any questions or need advice on how to protect yourself from infection in the future.

How Will I Know If The Chlamydia Has Affected My Fertility

Chlamydia is just one of many factors that can affect your fertility. Most people whove had chlamydia wont become infertile or have an ectopic pregnancy . If youve had chlamydia you wont normally be offered any routine tests to see if youre fertile unless you or a partner are having difficulty getting pregnant. If youre concerned, talk to your doctor or practice nurse.

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How Is Chlamydia Treated

Chlamydia can be easily treated with a short course of antibiotics. You may be able to take all the antibiotics in one day, or over a week, depending on the type of treatment you are prescribed.

Its important to not have sex until you and your current sexual partner/s have finished treatment. If youve had the one-day course of treatment, you should avoid having sex for seven days afterwards. Ask your healthcare professional when its safe to have sex again.

Remember that if youve been treated for chlamydia you are not immune and you can get infected again.

What Are Chlamydia Symptoms And Signs

The signs and symptoms of chlamydia infections in women are usually irritation in the genital tract, vaginal discharge, and pain with urination . In men, chlamydia is characterized by pain with urination, urinary frequency, and urethral discharge . Other symptoms may develop, such as rectal irritation , eye infections, and infertility. Women can also develop chronicpelvic pain, salpingitis, and endometritis. Pregnant women infected with chlamydia can have ectopicpregnancies, preterm labor, preterm delivery, and their newborns can get conjunctivitis, otitis media, and pneumonia.

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Symptoms In The Vulva

Chlamydia symptoms that show up in the vulva 13 weeks after a person comes into contact with the infection. In some cases, though, it can be months later.

Certain people can experience symptoms only when the infection is spreading to other areas of the body.

If symptoms are noticed by people, they may include:

• bleeding between periods
• nausea
• fever

If a person thinks they may have chlamydia, they should get a test at the earliest opportunity, even if they have no symptoms. People can get a chlamydia test at any time after touching the infection potentially.

A chlamydia test may require an exam of the vagina and cervix for people with a vulva. A health care provider may take a swab from inside the vagina.

People may also be able to take a swab themselves from inside the vagina which will be tested for chlamydia by technicians in a laboratory.

It is vital that individuals get a chlamydia test if they believe they have come into contact with the infection.

Neither regular cervical screening tests nor routine blood tests identify chlamydia.