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How Long Can Chlamydia Last

Can You Pass Chlamydia On Without Symptoms

At Last! Reliable Treatments For Chlamydia

Even if you are asymptomatic with Chlamydia, it is still possible to pass on the disease. The viral infection transmits via bodily fluids during sexual activity, therefore it is vitally important to practise safe sex and be tested regularly to ensure that you are clean of sexually transmitted infections. Visit our website to learn more about home testing.

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:

What Does A Chlamydia Test Involve

  • If you have a vulva, you may be asked to take a swab around the inside of your vagina yourself.
  • A doctor or nurse may take a swab during an internal examination of your vagina and cervix .
  • You may be asked to provide a urine sample. Before having this test, youre advised not to pass urine for 12 hours.
  • A doctor or nurse may take a swab from the entrance of the urethra .
  • If youve had anal or oral sex, a doctor or nurse may swab your rectum or throat . These swabs arent done routinely on everyone.
  • If you have symptoms of conjunctivitis swabs will be used to collect a sample of discharge from your eye.

A swab looks a bit like a cotton bud but is smaller and rounded. It sometimes has a small plastic loop on the end rather than a cotton tip. Its wiped over the parts of the body that could be infected. This only takes a few seconds and isnt painful, though it may be uncomfortable for a moment.

Cervical screening and routine blood tests dont detect chlamydia.

If youre not sure whether youve been tested for chlamydia, just ask.

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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.

Is It Possible To Get Chlamydia From A Toilet Seat

Pertussis

Chlamydia trachomatis, the bacteria that causes chlamydia infection, cannot survive outside the human body. Thus, you cannot get chlamydia from a toilet seat. Chlamydia can also not be transmitted through other means of casual contact, such as hugging, kissing, or by sharing towels, bed linen, swimming pools, or cutlery.

Some people are concerned about what will happen if they come in contact with a fresh droplet of the body fluid containing chlamydia left on a towel, bed linen, or toilet seat. However, merely coming in contact with the droplet just because it touched your skin or buttocks is not sufficient for you to get the infection. The bacteria need to come in contact with a suitable body tissue such as the cervix, urethra, or cornea of the eye to survive.

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Chlamydia Is Only Contagious From Person To Person

You can only get chlamydia by having intimate sexual contact with an infected person, not from casual contact, touching another persons clothing, or consuming contaminated food or water.

The chlamydia organism lives only in human cells and cannot be transmitted by external contact, such as towels or toilet seats, Schaffir says.

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 Will I Know If I Have Chlamydia

You can only be certain you have chlamydia if you have a test.

Anyone can get chlamydia. Youre more likely to have it if youre under 25, have a new sexual partner, or more than one sexual partner in the last year, and if you havent used condoms.

You should have a test if:

  • you, or a partner, have or think you might have symptoms
  • youve recently had sex without a condom with a new partner
  • you, or a partner, have had sex without a condom with other partners
  • during a vaginal examination, your doctor or nurse says that the cervix is inflamed and/or theres an unusual discharge
  • a sexual partner tells you they have a sexually transmitted infection
  • you have another STI.

If you live in England, and youre a woman who is under 25 and sexually active, its recommended that you have a chlamydia test when you change sexual partner and once a year.

If youre a man who is 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.

You could still have chlamydia even if a partner has tested negative. The only way to make sure you dont have chlamydia is to get tested yourself.

If you have chlamydia, youll be encouraged to be tested for other STIs as you can have more than one STI at the same time.

How Long Does It Take To Get Rid Of Chlamydia

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How long does it take to get rid of chlamydia?

It depends. If youre diagnosed with chlamydia, your health care provider will probably prescribe an antibiotic. In some cases, treatment is possible with a single dose of medication in the health care providers office. Other medications must be taken for seven days. Its important to make sure that you take the antibiotic exactly as directed for as long as its prescribed even if your symptoms go away. Avoid having sex until your treatment is complete and the infection is cured. Its also important to let your sex partner know that you have chlamydia so they can get tested and treated, too. Some health care providers will give you medications to take home to your partner.

Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted infection thats caused by a type of bacteria called chlamydia trachomatis. Both women and men can get it by having unprotected vaginal or anal sex with an infected partner. It can also be spread from a woman to her fetus during birth, and rarely, from the hand to the eye and, less likely, during unprotected oral sex. Each year, more than three million people of all ages become infected with chlamydia.

Tags:STDs, chlamydia

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How Often Should I Get Checked For Chlamydia

Sexual health check-ups are recommended for anyone who is sexually active. Frequency of testing also depends on your STI risk:

  • An annual sexual health check-up is highly recommended if you are sexually active especially if you are under 25.
  • Get checked more often during the year if you frequently change sexual partners.
  • Remember, you are at greater risk if you have sex without a condom with 1 or multiple sexual partners.

What Is The Dosage Of Azithromycin For Chlamydia

The recommended dosage of azithromycin for chlamydia is 1 gram as a single dose. This dose may be taken morning or night and can be taken with or without food. Another name for azithromycin is Zithromax.

If you have taken your dose of azithromycin on an empty stomach and your stomach has become a bit upset or you feel sick, it is Ok to eat some food, which may help to settle it.

A 500mg dose of azithromycin is not recommended by guidelines to cure chlamydia. There is also a chance it may increase the risk of C. trachomatis bacteria becoming resistant to it. If you have only taken or only been prescribed a 500mg dose of azithromycin, you need to return to your doctor to get a 1 gram dose prescribed. You should never share your dose of azithromycin with another person.

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When To See A Doctor

If a person has symptoms of chlamydia after testing and treatment or thinks that they have come into contact with chlamydia again, they should see their doctor.

Females are less likely than males to have symptoms of chlamydia, so testing is especially important for them.

The recommend chlamydia testing every year for the following groups of people:

  • sexually active females under the age of 25 years
  • females over the age of 25 years who have new or multiple sexual partners
  • anyone with a sexual partner who has an STI
  • sexually active gay and bisexual males

Pregnant women should have a chlamydia test early on in their pregnancy.

Antibiotics Are A Highly Effective Cure For Chlamydia Infection

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Antibiotics prescribed for chlamydia include:

A single oral dose of Zithromax is the most common treatment. Other drugs may be given in varying doses for a period of up to a week. Most cases of chlamydia clear up within a week after you start on antibiotics.

If you think you have been exposed to chlamydia, Stoner says, see your healthcare provider to receive antibiotic medication to prevent the onset of infection.

The partners of individuals diagnosed with chlamydia will need treatment, too, and in some states they can get it without a doctor visit through a practice called expedited partner therapy, in which the first person treated delivers the treatment to their partner or partners.

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When Should Someone Seek Medical Care For Chlamydia

The most urgent time to seek medical care for a chlamydial infection is when an individual is pregnant and has had recent sexual exposure to an infected individual and/or has developed early symptoms of a chlamydial infection. Additionally, if individuals are experiencing any symptoms of chlamydial infections, they should seek medical care quickly. Sexual partners should be notified if they have had recent contact with an infected individual.

Patients with gonorrhea have a 30%-50% chance of being coinfected with chlamydia. However, the reverse is not true. Patients with chlamydial infections have a less than 1% chance of being coinfected with Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

How Do People Get Chlamydia

Chlamydia is transmitted through sexual contact with the penis, vagina, mouth, or anus of an infected partner. Ejaculation does not have to occur for chlamydia to be transmitted or acquired. Chlamydia can also be spread perinatally from an untreated mother to her baby during childbirth, resulting in ophthalmia neonatorum or pneumonia in some exposed infants. In published prospective studies, chlamydial conjunctivitis has been identified in 18-44% and chlamydial pneumonia in 3-16% of infants born to women with untreated chlamydial cervical infection at the time of delivery.9-12 While rectal or genital chlamydial infection has been shown to persist one year or longer in infants infected at birth,13 the possibility of sexual abuse should be considered in prepubertal children beyond the neonatal period with vaginal, urethral, or rectal chlamydial infection.

People who have had chlamydia and have been treated may get infected again if they have sexual contact with a person infected with chlamydia.14

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How Chlamydia’s Passed On

Chlamydia is usually passed from one person to another through sexual contact.

You can get the infection if you come into contact with the semen or vaginal fluids of someone who has chlamydia.

Chlamydia is most commonly spread through:

  • vaginal or anal sex without a condom
  • sharing sex toys that arent washed or covered with a new condom each time theyre used.

It can be spread by giving or receiving oral sex with someone who has chlamydia. The risk can be lowered by using a condom or a dam to cover the genitals.

If infected semen or vaginal fluid comes into contact with the eye it can cause conjunctivitis (infection or irritation of the eye.

If youre pregnant its possible to pass chlamydia to the baby .

Its not clear if chlamydia can be spread by transferring infected semen or vaginal fluid to another persons genitals on the fingers or through rubbing vulvas together.

You cant get chlamydia from kissing, hugging, sharing baths or towels, swimming pools, toilet seats or from sharing cups, plates or cutlery.

What Is The Treatment For Chlamydia

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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.

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What’s The Treatment For Chlamydia

Chlamydia is treated with antibiotics. If you take the treatment according to instructions, its over 95% effective at treating chlamydia.

  • Youll be given a course of antibiotics for 3 or 7 days or sometimes up to two weeks.
  • If theres a high chance you have chlamydia, treatment may be started before the results of the test are back. Youll always be given treatment if a sexual partner is found to have chlamydia.
  • You may also need other treatment if complications have occurred.
  • Tell the doctor or nurse if youre pregnant, or think you might be, or youre breastfeeding. This may affect the type of antibiotic youre given.
  • Complementary therapies cant cure chlamydia.

How Is Chlamydia Spread

You can get chlamydia by having vaginal, anal, or oral sex with someone who has chlamydia.

If your sex partner is male you can still get chlamydia even if he does not ejaculate .

If youve had chlamydia and were treated in the past, you can still get infected again. This can happen if you have unprotected sex with someone who has chlamydia.

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I Was Treated For Chlamydia When Can I Have Sex Again

You should not have sex again until you and your sex partner have completed treatment. If your doctor prescribes a single dose of medication, you should wait seven days after taking the medicine before having sex. If your doctor prescribes a medicine for you to take for seven days, you should wait until you have taken all of the doses before having sex.

Symptoms In The Throat

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Chlamydia symptoms can sometimes appear in the throat, although this is uncommon. When it does occur, the time frame is likely to be similar to that of chlamydia infections of the genitals.

In people who experience symptoms, the main one is a persistent sore throat. A doctor may refer to a chlamydia infection in the throat as pharyngeal chlamydia.

Testing for chlamydia in the throat is not a common practice in STI testing, as it does not have approval from the Food and Drug Administration . However, if a person suspects that they have pharyngeal chlamydia, a doctor may take a swab from the throat.

A person can undergo testing for chlamydia at their:

  • doctors office
  • local health department
  • local planned parenthood center

A person can also order a chlamydia test online, take it at home, and then send it off for testing.

If people are at high risk of chlamydia, they may need screening for all types of chlamydia every 36 months.

At risk groups include people who have:

  • multiple or unknown sexual partners
  • sex in combination with illegal drug use
  • sexual partners who use illegal drugs or have multiple partners

7 days .

People should avoid having sex until their treatment is complete. If a person is experiencing symptoms even after the treatment, they should see a doctor.

People who menstruate should notice that their periods return to normal or that bleeding between periods stops by their next period.

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