Is Chlamydia Treated With Antibiotics

Does Your Partner Need To Get Treated Too

If you have a sexual partner, or if youve recently had sex with someone, talk with them about your chlamydia diagnosis. Theyll need to get tested and treated, too.

If your sexual partner doesnt seek treatment, theres a risk that they can transmit it back to you, even after your infection has been cured.

Are There Complications Of Chlamydia

Chlamydia can cause serious complications if it isnt treated promptly and properly.

Untreated chlamydia can trigger arthritis, skin rashes, and inflammation in the eye or rectum.

For women, chlamydia can spread into the uterus and the fallopian tubes and cause pelvic inflammatory disease . This can cause problems with pregnancy, such as ectopic pregnancy. Women with untreated chlamydia have up to a 1 in 12 chance of becoming infertile. In men, chlamydia can spread to the testicles and the tubes that carry sperm, causing pain and fertility problems.

Pregnant women who are infected with chlamydia have a higher chance of miscarriage or premature birth. Their babies may also get an eye or lung infection. You can read more about chlamydia and pregnancy here.

How Is Chlamydia Diagnosed

You can only detect chlamydia through tests ordered by your GP or sexual health clinic.

The best tests for women are doctor-collected cervical/vaginal swabs, self-collected vaginal swabs and urine sample tests.

Men usually have a urine sample sent for tests. Men who have sex with men also may have rectal and/or throat swabs taken.

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Treatment Of Sexual Partners

When you are being treated for chlamydia, it is important to have your sexual partners treated as well. This includes anyone you’ve had sex with within 60 days of the appearance of symptoms.

Depending on state law, your partner may be able to be prescribed the same treatment without having to undergo chlamydia testing. This precautionary measure helps ensure that you are not reinfected or that others are not infected as well.

If you have chlamydia, do not share your antibiotics with your partner. You need the full course to fully clear the infection, and your partner does as well.

To avoid reinfection, abstain from sexual intercourse until all sexual partners have been treated.

What Are The Treatments For Chlamydia

If you are diagnosed with chlamydia, your doctor will prescribe oral antibiotics. A single dose of azithromycin or taking doxycycline twice daily for 7 to 14 days are the most common treatments and are the same for those with or without HIV.

With treatment, the infection should clear up in about a week. Do not have sex for at least 7 days until you have taken all of your medication, and do not stop taking the antibiotics even if you feel better.

Your doctor will also recommend that your partner be treated as well to prevent reinfection and further spread of the disease.

Women with serious infections, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, may require a longer course of antibiotics or hospitalization for intravenous antibiotics. Some severe pelvic infections may require surgery in addition to antibiotic therapy.

Make sure you get retested after three months to be certain the infection is gone. Do this even if your partner has been treated and appears to be infection free.

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How Can You Be Sure Youre Experiencing A New Bout

Chlamydia is treated with antibiotics, usually azithromycin or doxycycline.

In order to make sure chlamydia is cured, you need to take the full course of antibiotics as prescribed by your doctor. You need to take every single dose dont stop taking the antibiotics until there are none left.

If youve taken all your antibiotics but you still have symptoms, contact your doctor or another healthcare professional.

According to the Center for Disease Control , youll need a follow-up test three months after treatment to ensure that the infection is cured.

There are a few reasons why you might contract chlamydia a second time:

• The initial infection wasnt cured because the course of antibiotics wasnt completed as directed.
• A sexual partner transmitted chlamydia to you.
• You used a sex toy that was contaminated with chlamydia.

A 2014 study suggests that chlamydia can live in the gastrointestinal tract and reinfect the genitals, causing chlamydia symptoms to reappear after the genital infection went away.

However, this study only looked at animal models of chlamydia. Research on human participants is needed.

The symptoms of chlamydia typically disappear once you finish your antibiotics. This can vary in time, as some chlamydia antibiotic courses are one dose taken on one day, while others last longer.

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.

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Chlamydial Infection Among Adolescents And Adults

Chlamydial infection is the most frequently reported bacterial infectious disease in the United States, and prevalence is highest among persons aged 24 years . Multiple sequelae can result from C. trachomatis infection among women, the most serious of which include PID, ectopic pregnancy, and infertility. Certain women who receive a diagnosis of uncomplicated cervical infection already have subclinical upper genital tract infection.

Asymptomatic infection is common among both men and women. To detect chlamydial infection, health care providers frequently rely on screening tests. Annual screening of all sexually active women aged < 25 years is recommended, as is screening of older women at increased risk for infection . In a community-based cohort of female college students, incident chlamydial infection was also associated with BV and high-risk HPV infection . Although chlamydia incidence might be higher among certain women aged 25 years in certain communities, overall, the largest proportion of infection is among women aged < 25 years .

How To Treat Gonorrhea And Chlamydia At Home: Get Tested

Taking antibiotics is the only way to treat gonorrhea and chlamydia, and these antibiotics must be prescribed by a physician. This means you cannot treat these STDs at home. But there is something you can do at home: get tested. The results of this at-home test will determine whether or not you need to contact a medical professional to discuss treatment options.

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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.

How Do You Know If Chlamydia Is Gone After Treatment

Your chlamydia symptoms should improve within a week of completing your course of antibiotics.

You do not need an immediate follow-up test to check if your chlamydia treatment has worked, as dead chlamydia bacteria may be detected 3 to 5 weeks after treatment, which would give a false positive result. But, if you have a rectal infection, you should have a test after treatment is completed.

If you are under 25 and have tested positive for chlamydia, it is recommended you take a repeat test 3 months after completing your treatment, to check you have not caught chlamydia again.

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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
• Sore throat that wont go away
• 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:

• You have recently entered a new relationship.
• You and your partner no longer want to use condoms.
• You or your partner have multiple partners.
• You recently had unprotected sex.
• You believe you may have been exposed to gonorrhea or chlamydia.

How Do I Dispose Of Azithromycin Chlamydia Treatment

Whenever you buy Azithromycin online it will come in blister packs that are not currently recyclable, so once they have been used can be disposed of in a general waste bin. If the Azithromycin are unfinished dispose of medication safely and drop them off at a local pharmacy. Cardboard packaging and paper patient information leaflets are recyclable.

For any more information on disposal of Azithromycin you can use our free Ask-a-Pharmacist service.

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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.

When To See A Healthcare Professional

If you suspect you have chlamydia, see a healthcare professional as soon as possible. Abstain from allsexual activity until your appointment.

If you arent comfortable getting tested for STIs with your usual provider, you can find a clinic in your area.

There are many free or low-cost clinics. Heres how to find one near you.

You can also visit GetTested or call CDC Info at 800-232-4636 to find local clinics.

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What Happens If You Dont Get Treated For Chlamydia

Even though chlamydia is common and doesnt usually cause any symptoms, it can become a big deal if its not caught and treated early.

Chlamydia can spread to your uterus and fallopian tubes if it goes untreated for a long time. This can cause you to have pelvic inflammatory disease . PID can cause permanent damage that leads to pain, infertility, or ectopic pregnancy. So getting tested regularly for chlamydia really lowers your chances of getting PID.

Having chlamydia may increase your chances of getting or spreading HIV.

If you have chlamydia during your pregnancy and dont treat it, you can pass it to your baby when youre giving birth. Chlamydia can also cause eye infections and pneumonia in newborns, and it also increases the risk of delivering your baby too early.

Testing and treatment for chlamydia is quick, easy, and the best way to avoid all of these problems.

Why Do I Keep Getting A Chlamydia Infection

You can get chlamydia even after treatment. You may get it again for several reasons, including:

• You did not complete your course of antibiotics as directed and the initial chlamydia did not go away.
• Your sexual partner has untreated chlamydia and gave it to you during sexual activity.
• You used an object during sex that was not properly cleaned and was contaminated with chlamydia.

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Treating Toddlers And Children

Chlamydia in toddlers and children may occur as a result of sexual abuse and should be investigated. With that said, chlamydia transmitted during childbirth can sometimes take up to three years before symptoms develop in the child’s throat, rectum, or genitals.

If chlamydia is confirmed, either erythromycin, azithromycin, or doxycycline may be used depending on the child’s age and/or weight.

Infant Pneumonia Caused By C Trachomatis

Chlamydial pneumonia among infants typically occurs at age 13 months and is a subacute pneumonia. Characteristic signs of chlamydial pneumonia among infants include a repetitive staccato cough with tachypnea and hyperinflation and bilateral diffuse infiltrates on a chest radiograph. In addition, peripheral eosinophilia occurs frequently. Because clinical presentations differ, all infants aged 13 months suspected of having pneumonia, especially those whose mothers have a history of, are at risk for , or suspected of having a chlamydial infection should be tested for C. trachomatis and treated if infected.

Diagnostic Considerations

Specimens for chlamydial testing should be collected from the nasopharynx. Tissue culture is the definitive standard diagnostic test for chlamydial pneumonia. Nonculture tests can be used. DFA is the only nonculture FDA-cleared test for detecting C. trachomatis from nasopharyngeal specimens however, DFA of nasopharyngeal specimens has a lower sensitivity and specificity than culture. NAATs are not cleared by FDA for detecting chlamydia from nasopharyngeal specimens, and clinical laboratories should verify the procedure according to CLIA regulations . Tracheal aspirates and lung biopsy specimens, if collected, should be tested for C. trachomatis.

Treatment

Erythromycin base or ethylsuccinate 50 mg/kg body weight/day orally divided into 4 doses daily for 14 days

Azithromycin suspension 20 mg/kg body weight/day orally, 1 dose daily for 3 days

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What Is The Best Medication For Chlamydia

Finding the best medication for chlamydia isnt too much of a struggle as antibiotics tend to be pretty effective. However, different patients will have different needs, allergies, and factors that determine their best medication. The correct antibiotic to treat your chlamydia may vary from the one that works for another patient. Consult a healthcare professional when selecting a medication for your chlamydia, especially if pregnancy is suspected.

Dosage is determined by your doctor based on your medical condition, response to treatment, age, and weight. Other possible side effects exist. This is not a complete list.

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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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.

What Are The Common Symptoms Of Chlamydia

Chlamydia usually doesnt cause symptoms when youre infected with it. However, in some cases, the infection causes symptoms to flare up in an infected person.

When the symptoms show, they occur differently based on the infected persons gender. Some symptoms generally apply, however.

You can experience symptoms of conjunctivitis, including pain, redness, and discharge from the eyes if the bacteria gets into your eyes.

Some people also get a sore throat when the bacteria are in their throats.

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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.