If I Take Antibiotics Will It Cure Chlamydia

Treatment For Gonorrhea Is Quick And Easy Too

The CDC currently recommends a shot of the antibiotic Rocephin and an oral dose of the antibiotic azithromycin, given at the same time, to treat gonorrhea.

Treatment recommendations for gonorrhea have changed over the years as the bacteria that causes gonorrhea, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, has become resistant to a growing number of antibiotics.

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In addition, our Q& A experts sometimes address questions about gonorrhea in our “Ask the Experts” forums. Here are some of those questions and our experts’ responses:

• How long does it take?After taking the pill to treat gonorrhea, how long does it take to clear up?
• Chlamydia and GonorrheaI was treated for chlamydia and gonorrhea eight days ago. How long do I wait to have sex? When will I know if I have been cured?

Chlamydia Treatment: Can Antibiotics Treat A Chlamydia Infection

Chlamydia trachomatis is a widespread bacteria which usually causes infections of the female genitourinary tract. It is considered a sexually transmitted disease , but males develop the symptoms of chlamydia very rarely, due to the anatomical differences between male and female genitourinary systems.

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Urogenital Infection In Women

• References

In women, chlamydial infection of the lower genital tract occurs in the endocervix. It can cause an odorless, mucoid vaginal discharge, typically with no external pruritus, although many women have minimal or no symptoms.2 An ascending infection can result in pelvic inflammatory disease .

Physical findings of urogenital chlamydial infection in women include cervicitis with a yellow or cloudy mucoid discharge from the os. The cervix tends to bleed easily when rubbed with a polyester swab or scraped with a spatula. Chlamydial infection cannot be distinguished from other urogenital infections by symptoms alone. Clinical microscopy and the amine test can be used to help differentiate chlamydial infection from other lower genital tract infections such as urinary tract infection, bacterial vaginosis, and trichomoniasis.3 In addition, chlamydial infection in the lower genital tract does not cause vaginitis thus, if vaginal findings are present, they usually indicate a different diagnosis or a coinfection.

Some women with C. trachomatis infection develop urethritis symptoms may consist of dysuria without frequency or urgency. A urethral discharge can be elicited by compressing the urethra during the pelvic examination. Urinalysis usually will show more than five white blood cells per high-powered field, but urethral cultures generally are negative.

Can You Get Chlamydia More Than Once

Yes, you can get the infection even if youve successfully treated it already.

A sexual partner who has chlamydia can transmit it to you again, even if youve already had it and treated it.

You can also get chlamydia again if it wasnt fully treated the first time. This can happen if you stop taking the necessary treatment. Its important to complete the antibiotics youve been given, even if your symptoms get better.

The CDC recommends getting tested 3 months after treatment of your initial infection to ensure the infection is cleared.

Also Check: How You Know If You Got Chlamydia

How To Help Partners Get Treatment

If you are not sure whether your sexual partner will seek treatment, ask your doctor for extra chlamydia medication . You can give it to them so they can be treated as soon as possible.

This is known as patient delivered partner therapy for chlamydia. Talk to your doctor to see if PDPT is right for you and your sexual partner.

How Does Chlamydia Treatment Work

Chlamydia treatment works by stopping the bacteria that causes chlamydia from producing an important protein which it needs to multiply. This stops the bacteria from growing and replicating, so your symptoms should improve as your body is cleared of chlamydia.

The first line treatment for chlamydia in the UK is doxycycline. The usual dose is one tablet to be taken twice daily for 7 days. You can swallow doxycycline tablets whole with water and take them with or without food. You should sit up for about 30 minutes after each dose to prevent symptoms of throat irritation or stomach upset.

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When Should You Test For Gonorrhea Or Chlamydia At Home

If youve recently had unprotected sex or potentially been exposed to gonorrhea or chlamydia, you may think that its important to get tested immediately. But taking an STD test too soon could actually lead to inaccurate results. Why? STDs such as gonorrhea and chlamydia will not be detectable in your system immediately following exposure. If you take a test too early, you may get a false negative result.

So how long should you wait to get tested for STDs? Every STD has a unique incubation period, which is the amount of time that it takes for the STD to be detectable in your system. The incubation period for chlamydia can range from 7 days to 21 days, whereas the incubation period for gonorrhea is up to 14 days.

Therefore, it is best to get tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea two to three weeks following the initial exposure. If you take a test within the first two to three weeks following exposure, its best to get tested again after several weeks to ensure your initial results were accurate.

Can Chlamydia Kill You

As already mentioned before, this infection won`t cause any issues if treated right away. However, if it`s left untreated, it may lead to severe problems, especially when talking about women:

• It the infection spreads, it may cause PID. This severe medical condition might make it difficult or even impossible for a woman to conceive.
• Expecting mothers who experience this infection frequently pass it to their own future babies during delivery. If the condition gets in the eyes of the child, it may lead to blindness. Babies can have other issues, such as pneumonia, which can become deadly in a infant.
• Having this particular infection makes anyone a lot more likely in getting HIV from other persons who are infected with HIV. This virus causes AIDS.

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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.

What Should You Do If You Test Positive For Chlamydia Or Gonorrhea

Testing positive for gonorrhea or chlamydia is a nerve-wracking experience, but its important to stay calm. If you test positive for either STD, seek medical treatment right away. If your symptoms do not improve after taking the prescribed antibiotics, make sure to contact your doctor to discuss other treatment options so you can avoid these serious complications.

Be sure to get tested again once you have completed the full course of antibiotics. Taking another test will help you confirm that the treatment was successful. If you are still testing positive for either gonorrhea or chlamydia after completing your treatment, contact your doctor to discuss your next steps.

You will also need to reach out to your sexual partners as soon as possible after testing positive for chlamydia or gonorrhea. Share your test results with your sexual partners and encourage them to get tested right away. This may be an uncomfortable conversation, but you shouldnt put it off. Telling your sexual partners about your test results right away is the only way to stop the spread of chlamydia and gonorrhea.

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Urogenital Infection In Men

• References

In men, chlamydial infection of the lower genital tract causes urethritis and, on occasion, epididymitis. Urethritis is secondary to C. trachomatis infection in approximately 15 to 55 percent of men, although the prevalence is lower among older men.2 Symptoms, if present, include a mild to moderate, clear to white urethral discharge. This is best observed in the morning, before the patient voids. To observe the discharge, the penis may need to be milked by applying pressure from the base of the penis to the glans.

The diagnosis of nongonococcal urethritis can be confirmed by the presence of a mucopurulent discharge from the penis, a Gram stain of the discharge with more than five white blood cells per oil-immersion field, and no intracellular gram-negative diplococci.2 A positive result on a leukocyte esterase test of first-void urine or a microscopic examination of first-void urine showing 10 or more white blood cells per high-powered field also confirms the diagnosis of urethritis.

For diagnosis of C. trachomatis infection in men with suspected urethritis, the nucleic acid amplification technique to detect chlamydial and gonococcal infections is best .4 Empiric treatment should be considered for patients who are at high risk of being lost to follow-up.

What Happens If I Get Chlamydia When I’m Pregnant

• Chlamydia during pregnancy has been associated in very rare cases with problems such as premature birth, and infection of the uterus lining after the birth.
• It can be passed to the baby during the birth and before the baby is born. This can cause inflammation and discharge in the babys eye and/or pneumonia.
• You may be offered a chlamydia test as part of your antenatal care.
• Chlamydia can be treated with antibiotics when youre pregnant and when youre breastfeeding. The antibiotics wont harm the baby, but do tell the doctor or nurse that youre pregnant or breastfeeding.
• Youll be advised to have another test after you complete your treatment.

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Does Chlamydia Treatment Have Side Effects

An antibiotic called Doxycycline is the most common medicine used to treat chlamydia. Like most medicines, it can cause mild side effects. The most common side effects of Doxycycline are nausea, vomiting, upset stomach, loss of appetite, mild diarrhea, skin rash or itching, change in skin color, vaginal itching, or discharge. These side effects should go away after you finish taking the medicine. Talk to your nurse or doctor about any medicines youre already taking and any medical issues you already have before taking Doxycycline.

How Long Does It Take For Chlamydia To Go Away After Treatment

Chlamydia infection usually clears after one week of completing your antibiotic treatment. During treatment, you should avoid drinking alcohol as this can reduce how effective the antibiotic is.

You should also avoid having sex during treatment as you could still pass on the infection to your partner. It is common for partners to pass chlamydia between one another if they continue to have sex without completing their treatment, causing repeated infections.

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What Can Happen If Chlamydia Is Not Treated

Chlamydia is a bacterial sexually transmitted disease that is caused by Chlamydia trachomatis. Like any other sexually transmitted disease, it is transmitted through unprotected sex and is most common in individuals with high risk sexual behavior. Chlamydia is most of the times left untreated as 80% women and 50% men are asymptomatic after Chlamydia exposure and whatever mild symptoms are experienced are either ignored or confused with other conditions.

The symptoms are usually noted after 2 to 3 weeks of exposure to the bacteria. In women, they present as abnormal vaginal discharge, abnormal bleeding from vagina or rectum, pain during sex, dysuria, pain or itching of the vagina or vulva, pelvic pain and sometimes sore throat. In men, it might present as discharge from penis, pain or burning on urination, swollen testicles, and/or itching, burning, redness, pain or erythema of the head of the penis, rectal pain or bleeding, also might cause sore throat and conjunctivitis.

Chlamydia is usually treated with antibiotics, mainly azithromycin, doxycycline or erythromycin.

What Are The Symptoms Of Chlamydia

Many people with chlamydia have no symptoms at all, and their infection is only picked up with a screening test.

Guidelines currently recommend that all women under the age of 25 get screened for chlamydia every year. Older women at increased risk for an infection, such as those with a new sex partner, more than one sex partner, a sex partner with concurrent partners, or a sex partner who has a sexually transmitted infection, should also be screen regularly.

Although routine screening for chlamydia in young men is not currently recommended, it should be considered in populations with a high prevalence of chlamydia or those at high risk for chlamydia .

Some people may have symptoms.

Women may notice an unusual vaginal discharge or problems when urinating , such as pain or burning, an increased need to urinate pain during sex bleeding between periods or after sex lower abdominal , or pelvic pain or cramps or.

Men may notice a discharge from their penis, pain or discomfort while urinating , or pain or swelling in their testicles.

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Treatment Of Other Types

Two other conditions caused by Chlamydia trachomatis are uncommon in the United States, but very common worldwide:

• Lymphogranuloma venereum : Lymphogranuloma venereum is treated in the same way as standard genital chlamydia infections, but a longer course of therapy is used . Other care may also be required to treat genital ulcers or abscessed inguinal nodes if they occur.
• Trachoma: Trachoma is the leading preventable cause of blindness worldwide and often requires aggressive treatment with antibiotics and surgery addressing unsanitary living conditions is also necessary.

How Do I Talk To My Partners

Preventing chlamydia begins with knowing more about your sexual partners and establishing safe sex practices.

You can get chlamydia by engaging in a variety of sexual behaviors with someone who has chlamydia. This includes contact with the genitals or other affected areas as well as penetrative sex.

Before having sex, talk to your partners about:

• whether theyve been tested recently for STDs
• their sexual history
• their other risk factors

Talking to your partner about STDs can be difficult. There are ways to ensure you can have an open and honest conversation about the issue before engaging in sex.

Mens symptoms can include:

• discharge from the penis
• changes in the testicles, such as pain or swelling

You may also experience chlamydia away from the genitals.

Symptoms in your rectum can include pain, bleeding, and unusual discharge. You may even get chlamydia in your throat, causing redness or soreness or no symptoms at all. Conjunctivitis may be the sign of chlamydia in your eye.

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Condom Use During The Treatment Period

• Avoid having sex without a condom during treatment because the infection can still be transmitted. Use condoms for 7 days after the start of treatment and until 7 days after all current sexual contacts have been treated.
• If you are on a combined oral contraceptive pill, use a condom for 14 days when having sex, as antibiotics can affect the reliability of the contraceptive pill.

After completing the treatment, phone your doctor or return to the clinic for a follow-up after 3 months to check you have not been re-infected.

Who Should Take An At

Before you start worrying about amoxicillin, you should first get a proper diagnosis. For cases in which chlamydia orgonorrhea symptoms are present, these are the signs to watch out for:

• More frequent urination or the urge to urinate
• Painful sensation when urinating
• Red and swollen penis near the urinary meatus
• Abnormal discharge or fluid from the penis or vaginal area
• Sore throat that wont go away
• Fever
• Testicular pain and swelling in men
• Lower abdominal pain in women
• Heavier period or excessive spotting in women

If you notice any of these symptoms, its in your best interest to purchase an at-home STD kit to test for gonorrhea and chlamydia right away.

Dont assume that you dont need to get tested simply because you arent experiencing any symptoms. In many cases, gonorrhea and chlamydia may not show any visible signs of infection at all. For this reason, every sexually active person should be tested regularly for all common sexually transmitted infections.

In general, the CDC recommends that every sexually active adult get tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea at least once a year.But if you engage in certain sexual activities, you may need to get tested more frequently.This is especially true for people who meet one or more of the following conditions:

Recommended Reading: What Happens If Chlamydia Is Left Untreated

How Is Chlamydia Spread

In nearly all cases chlamydia is transmitted through sexual contact.

• You can get chlamydia by having unprotected vaginal, anal or oral sex with someone who has chlamydia.
• You can still get chlamydia even if the person you’re having sex with does not ejaculate .
• Chlamydia can also be spread through other types of sexual contact such as mutual masturbation, fingering or the use of sex toys.
• One simple way to protect yourself is by using a condom when engaging in sexual intercourse.

Another way of transmitting chlamydia is from mother to baby during birth. If this occurs, your baby may develop an eye or lung infection. This needs urgent treatment.