How Long Does It Take For Chlamydia To Cause Infertility

What Are The Long Term Effects Of Chlamydia If Left Untreated

For women, the long-term effects of an untreated chlamydia infection may include:

• Severe infection with pain and fever requiring a hospital stay.
• Pelvic inflammatory disease, an infection of the upper reproductive tract.
• Scarring in the reproductive tract that causes infertility.
• Higher risk of ectopic pregnancy.

How Long Does It Take Chlamydia To Damage Your Reproductive System

Symptoms usually appear within one to three weeks after being infected and may be very mild. If not treated, chlamydia can lead to damage to the reproductive system. In women, chlamydial infection can spread to the uterus or fallopian tubes and cause pelvic inflammatory disease , according to the CDC.

What Std Causes Infertility In Females

Chlamydia and gonorrhea are the two sexually transmitted diseases that can cause infertility or make pregnancy difficult in females.

Along with potentially causing PID, untreated chlamydia can cause problems during pregnancy, this includes preterm labor, low birth weight, and the passing on of the infection to the newborn. Untreated gonorrhea can also be passed on to a newborn during pregnancy and has also been linked to premature birth and low birth weight.

See also:Chlamydia and Gonorrhea: How to Know the Difference

One of the most reliable ways to keep an eye on your sexual health is through regular sexual health screening. This can be done with your doctor or from home with an at-home lab test.

LetsGetCheckeds range of at-home Sexual Health Tests can detect some of the most common sexually transmitted infections. Online results will be available within 2-5 days and our dedicated clinical team will be available to answer any questions you may have throughout the process. Should you test positive, you will receive a call to discuss your results and your treatment options.

• You have had unprotected sex
• You are experiencing symptoms of a sexually transmitted infection
• You are entering into a new sexual relationship
• You have received a notification from a previous partner that they are infected

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How Common Is Chlamydia

CDC estimates that there were four million chlamydial infections in 2018.3 Chlamydia is also the most frequently reported bacterial sexually transmitted infection in the United States.4 However, a large number of cases are not reported because most people with chlamydia are asymptomatic and do not seek testing. Chlamydia is most common among young people. Two-thirds of new chlamydial infections occur among youth aged 15-24 years.3 It is estimated that 1 in 20 sexually active young women aged 14-24 years has chlamydia.5

Disparities persist among racial and ethnic minority groups. In 2019, reported chlamydia rates for African Americans/Blacks were nearly six times that of Whites.4 Chlamydia is also common among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men . Among MSM screened for rectal chlamydial infection, positivity has ranged from 3.0% to 10.5%.6,7 Among MSM screened for pharyngeal chlamydial infection, positivity has ranged from 0.5% to 2.3%.7.8

How Can I Prevent Getting Chlamydia

Anyone who is sexually active can catch chlamydia. You’re most at risk if you have a new sexual partner or don’t use a barrier method of contraception, such as a condom, when having sex. You can help to prevent the spread of chlamydia by:

• using a condom every time you have vaginal or anal sex
• using a condom to cover the penis during oral sex
• using a dam to cover the female genitals during oral sex or when rubbing female genitals together
• not sharing sex toys. If you do share sex toys, wash them or cover them with a new condom between each person who uses them.

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What Happens If Chlamydia Isn`t Treated

Not all people with Chlamydia will experience any complications. If the infection gets treatment early, it won`t probably cause any long-term damages. Still, with no treatment Chlamydia will spread to other body parts. The more times you get infected with it, the more like it is for you to experience complications.

• In men this condition may lead to an infection of the testicles and maybe even infertility.
• In women this infection may lead to inflammation and pain around the liver. With proper treatment, this usually gets better in time.
• In women this medical condition may spread to other important body organs leading to PID. In turn, this may lead to long-term damages, such as ectopic pregnancy, pelvic pain, infertility and blocked fallopian tubes.
• In both man and women More rarely, this infection may lead to joint inflammation. This is also known as SARA and it`s on occasion accompanied by eye and urethral inflammation. It occurs more rarely in women than men.

A Question On Many Patients Minds

Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the UK and as a result it affects many people at some point during their adult life. Although it can easily be treated with a routine course of antibiotics, it often shows no signs or symptoms. For this reason chlamydia can remain undiagnosed for a long period of time and may lead to complications such as infertility.

To help answer your questions and guide your concerns the specialist team at Your Sexual Healthhave put together this useful article.

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Contact Us To Chat With A Fertility Advisor

The most important thing to know about infertility caused by undiscovered and untreated STIs is just thatits preventable. The infections that can lead to infertility, namely gonorrhea and chlamydia, are among the most common and most treatable, so testing and treatment can prevent the complications that can damage reproductive organs and leave a woman infertile.

Chlamydia and gonorrhea are both bacterial infections spread through sexual contact that can affect both men and women and are some of the most common STIs seen by doctors an estimated 2.86 million cases of chlamydia and 820,000 cases of gonorrhea occur annually in the United States. More often than not, an infected woman has no symptomsbut unfortunately, even asymptomatic infection can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, or PID. Doctors estimate that up to 40% of women who contract chlamydia or gonorrhea and dont properly treat the infection will wind up with PID, and up to half of PID cases are estimated by the CDC to be caused by chlamydia or gonorrhea infection.

Heres how PID happens: when a woman is infected with one of these STIs, microorganisms can travel upward from her cervix or vagina to the other reproductive organs, causing them to be infected, as well. The PID, in turn, can cause scar tissue on the fallopian tubes that blocks the pathway of the egg released from the ovary, preventing natural pregnancy and causing infertility.

Exact Answer: Up To 7 Days

Chlamydia is a fairly common disease in the category of Sexually Transmitted Infections , and the cause of the disease is a bacterium named Chlamydia Trachomatis. It can be passed through vaginal, oral, or anal intercourse.

However, it is not necessary that chlamydia would only be passed through when there is complete intercourse, it can also be passed if the genitals touch as it is a contagious disease.

Moreover, a person can also get infected with Chlamydia if they come in contact with infected semen, or get it in their eye. It cannot pass through general touches like hugging or shaking hands.

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What You Need To Know:

Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted infection caused by bacteria. Chlamydia is spread during oral, vaginal, or anal sex. The infection most often affects the urethra, rectum, or throat. The urethra is the tube that carries urine from your bladder to the outside of your body. Anyone with multiple sex partners is at higher risk for chlamydia. Your risk is also increased if you have another STI, such as gonorrhea.

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How Does Chlamydia Cause Infertility

Infertility can be defined as the inability to get pregnant despite frequent unprotected sex over the course of one year. In western countries like the UK, about 15% of couples are infertile. Men are responsible for the couples infertility in half of these cases.

Infertility can be caused by a combination of factors that stop a pregnancy from happening. This is usually the result of genetic factors and environmental factors .

The rise of obesity in rich countries has contributed to the rise in infertility rates, because women who are obese tend not to ovulate as efficiently as those who are not overweight.

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Can Chlamydia Turn Into Syphilis If Left Untreated For A Long Time

By | June 4, 2013, 12:44 p.m.

Category:

Can Chlamydia, if left untreated for 3 or more years, turn into Syphilis?

No. Chlamydia wont turn into syphilis if its left untreated for a long period of time. But it can cause PID pelvic inflammatory disease in women. PID is a serious infection that harms the reproductive organs. And untreated chlamydia in men can cause a condition called epididymitis. Both PID and epididymitis can cause infertility .

To prevent these kinds of serious complications, its really important to get tested regularly for chlamydia. Chlamydia often has no symptoms, which is why testing is so important. Chlamydia is easy to treat with antibiotics, and testing for it is simple. Read more about chlamydia here.

Use Of Ultrasound To Evaluate Tubal Patency

An accurate assessment and evaluation of tubal patency is a fundamental part of a diagnostic work-up for women with tubal factor infertility, according to the British Journal of Radiology. 3D/ 4D hysterosalpingo contrast sonography and hysterosalpingo foam sonography are increasing in popularity as reliable methods for evaluating tubal patency.

3D HyCoSy Image – Right Fallopian Tube Blocked

A meta-analysis of several studies in the British Journal of Radiology showed that using 3D/4D HyCoSy for assessment of tubal patency results in high diagnostic accuracy. The overall sensitivity was 0.92, and specificity was 0.91. Unlike other tubal assessment methods such as laparoscopy and dye intubation, ultrasound does not require iodinated contrast media, anesthesia, operation risk or radiation exposure. HyFoSy was found to be especially patient-friendly when compared to hysterosalpingography.

In order to prevent instances of PID, it’s important for clinicians to discuss STDs that may cause infertility with their patients, especially those of reproductive age. The sooner PID is diagnosed, the better chance a patient has to head off any potential long-term damage.

Featured Case Study

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Can I Prevent Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

Sometimes, PID is not due to a sexually transmitted infection. It can come from normal vaginal bacteria traveling to your reproductive organs. Avoiding douching may lower the risk.

Most of the time, though, PID happens because of unprotected sex. Take steps to practice safe sex. Protect yourself from sexually transmitted infections that can cause PID:

• Limit sexual partners: Your risk increases if you have multiple partners.
• Choose barrier methods of birth control: These types of birth control include condoms and diaphragms. Combine a barrier method with spermicide, even if you take birth control pills.
• Seek treatment if you notice symptoms: If you notice signs of PID or other STIs, get treatment right away. Symptoms include unusual vaginal discharge, pelvic pain or bleeding between periods.
• Get regular checkups: Have regular gynecological exams and screenings. Often, providers can identify and treat cervical infections before they spread to reproductive organs.

Chlamydia Reduces Male Fertility By Ravaging Sperm

By Roxanne Khamsi

Chlamydia the most common sexually transmitted disease in the US and UK causes dramatic genetic damage in sperm leading to male infertility, a new study suggests.

Men with chlamydia have more than three times the normal level of DNA fragmentation in their sperm, report researchers. However, results from the study also indicate that appropriate antibiotic treatment can help restore the genetic integrity of these mens sperm as well as their fertility.

Until recently, doctors believed that chlamydia threatened womens fertility only. The bacteria responsible for the disease, Chlamydia trachomatis can cause a womans fallopian tubes to become blocked or scarred, making it difficult or impossible to conceive a child.

A study published in 2004 involving Swedish couples seeking infertility treatment found that men with chlamydia infection were less likely to father a child. But researchers have lacked good evidence about why men with the disease develop fertility trouble and how to reverse the problem.

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Vaginal Microbiome And Other Potential Pathogens

N. gonorrhoeae, C. trachomatis, and M. genitalium may not be the only organisms capable of damaging the reproductive tract. Both Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum, two common species of genital mycoplasma, have been investigated as possible causative agents for infertility and pelvic inflammation. M. hominis is commonly found in the upper genital tract. The adverse influence of M. hominis on the female reproductive tract was identified in 1976 by MÃ¥rdh and colleagues, as they demonstrated with in vitro organ cultures the swelling of the ciliated tubal epithelial cells due to M. hominis infection . The organism has been isolated from the fallopian tubes of women with a history of infertility and laparoscopically-confirmed salpingitis, although recent data have not necessarily reproduced these findings .

How Long After Chlamydia Exposure Are You Contagious

As contagious as Chlamydia is, the average person might not feel the symptoms until much later when the infection has taken place. Some of the symptoms a person having Chlamydia might face can include an increase in the vaginal discharge from normal days, they can also experience pain or a burning sensation during sex, it can also come off as a burning sensation while peeing, or heavier periods.

For men, symptoms of Chlamydia may include pain in testicles or swelling in testicles, burning sensation while peeing, etc. Chlamydia is common in women and men below the age of 25.

However, the infection caused by Chlamydia can be cured by antibiotics, and easily so. Chlamydia, however, can also be transmitted from the pregnant mother to her child.

The symptoms of Chlamydia usually appear after three weeks of the infection and are generally more easily seen in men rather than women.

Any sexually active person can experience Chlamydia as it is a fairly common STI and usually seen within younger people. The infected person can transmit the bacteria up to 7 days after getting it, and hence there is a high risk of exposure.

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Will I Be Infertile After Chlamydia

Chlamydia can also cause fallopian tube infection without any symptoms. PID and silent infection in the upper genital tract may cause permanent damage to the fallopian tubes, uterus, and surrounding tissues, which can lead to infertility. Most women infected with chlamydia or gonorrhea have no symptoms.

How Long Does It Take Before Chlamydia Causes Infertility

When we speak of Chlamydia, we usually think of a disease that is brutal and painful. However, Chlamydia is actually a type of STD or sexually transmitted disease that causes only mild symptoms or even asymptomatic reactions once transmitted. This is in fact the most common STD in the United States with an estimate of 2.8 million reported cases every year according to the Center for Disease Control. However, despite being a common and widespread STD, a lot of us still no very little about this particular infection. Only a few are even aware that Chlamydia can actually cause infertility in the long run. But the real issue is how long does it take before Chlamydia causes infertility?

Before answering the question, let us first state some facts about Chlamydia. Chlamydia is a condition that is caused by a bacterium known as Chlamydia trachomatis. This type of pathogen can be transmitted through anal, vaginal or even oral sex. In addition to this, the bacteria Chlamydia can also be passed from an infected pregnant mother to her baby during childbirth or delivery. Any person, especially those that are sexually active, can acquire this type of disease. Aside from this, the greater the number of sexual partners we have, the greater the risk we also have of infection.

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The Steadyhealth Team Reacts

Chlamydia often has no symptoms unless left untreated for a long time, and the same also holds true for many other sexually-transmitted diseases. This is why anyone who is sexually active benefits from regular STD testing even if youre monogamous, theres a chance your partner may not be. It is, however, especially good to get tested:

• If you have just started a new relationship
• You and your partner would like to ditch the condoms
• You have symptoms that may indicate an STD, such as pelvic pain, abnormal discharge from the penis or vagina, pain during urination, warts, or genital lesions
• You have just found out your partner has had sex with someone else or multiple other people
• You have sex with multiple partners of unknown STD status, even if you use condoms

If, after an STD test, you are positive for Chlamydia, you will be treated with antibiotics.

What Happens If Chlamydia Goes Untreated

If a person is not treated for chlamydia, complications may occur. Women frequently develop pelvic inflammatory disease . PID can cause infertility , chronic pelvic pain, tubal pregnancies, and the continued spread of the disease. In men, untreated chlamydia can cause urethral infection and complications such as swollen and tender testicles. Chlamydia infection during pregnancy may result in premature rupture of membranes, preterm delivery and possible tubal pregnancy in a small percent of women. In addition, chlamydia can cause conjunctival and pneumonic infection in the newborn. Persons with a chlamydia infection have an increased chance of getting other infections such as gonorrhea or HIV.

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