What Increases Your Risk
Risk factors for getting chlamydia include:
- Having unprotected sex .
- Having more than one sex partner.
- Having a high-risk partner or partners. This includes people who have more than one sex partner or sex partners who have chlamydia.
- Starting sexual activity before age 18.
Any child with chlamydia needs to be seen by a doctor to determine the cause and to assess for possible sexual abuse. For more information, see the topic Child Abuse and Neglect.
How Do You Catch Chlamydia
The most common ways to catch chlamydia are through unprotected vaginal, anal or oral sex. It is also possible to become infected if you share sex toys with someone and they arent protected during use or cleaned after use. If a woman is pregnant when she contacts the sexually transmitted infection then she is likely to pass the infection on to her baby during childbirth.
It is still unclear whether the infection can be spread through touching or rubbing another persons genitals. Chlamydia cant be caught through kissing or sharing things such as the toilet. If you think you might have come into sexual contact with a person or toys that are or might be infected, then be sure to get tested.
What Happens When Chlamydia Is Not Treated
Estimated Reading Time: 50 secsIf treatment is not sought, It can also cause ectopic pregnancies , The most common and serious complications occur in women.Untreated Chlamydia : Can lead to complications, chlamydia can cause: Damage the sex organs.Chlamydia that is not treated can cause serious health problems, which may manifest as conjunctivitis or pneumonia, and C.trachomatis infection is the most common sexually transmitted infection , untreated chlamydia may lead to pelvic inflammatory disease , When left untreated, Chlamydia can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease , PID can cause: Infertility, ovaries, ectopic pregnancy.
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If You Have Chlamydia:
- Take all of the prescribed medicine, even if your symptoms go away before you have completed treatment.
- If the symptoms do not go away within a week after finishing treatment, go to your doctor or clinic again.
- It is very important to tell your sex partners that you have chlamydia so that they can be tested and treated.
- Get re-tested for chlamydia 3 4 months after treatment.
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.
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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.
How Long Does It Take For A Male To Show Signs Of Chlamydia
Symptoms in the penis Symptoms of chlamydia may affect the penis within 13 weeks of the person coming into contact with the infection. In some cases, though, these symptoms can take months to appear. Symptoms of chlamydia in the penis may include: white, cloudy, or watery discharge from the tip of the penis.
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Complications In Case Of Untreated Chlamydia When You Are Pregnant:
Women, who are pregnant and have been infected by the chlamydia virus, can transfer the disease to the baby during childbirth. This can be dangerous for the new born as the baby will suffer from eye infection or pneumonia soon after being born.
With so many health complications, it is a must that you treat chlamydia infection as soon as possible. Leaving it untreated will increase the risks of other health complications and reproduction. Also, you must keep in mind that chlamydia does not go away on its own. You need antibiotic dosage to treat this condition.
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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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Chlamydiacomplications In Female Patients
Womenare at a higher risk of experiencing long-term risks and complications when achlamydia infection is left untreated. Unfortunately, particularly in women, thecomplications that develop due to untreated chlamydia is often also silent whichmeans symptoms of these adverse effects may only develop once the damage hasbeen dealt with.
The major concern when it comes to complications of chlamydia in female patients would be the possibility of pelvic inflammatory disease. In fact, up to 15% of women who fail to be treated for chlamydia will go on to develop the pelvic inflammatory disease.
Thedisease is considered serious and tends to cause long-term damage to theinternal organs of the female patient. Internal abscesses may develop in thewomans reproductive tract.These abscesses are essentially pockets filled with pus. They are consideredexceptionally hard to treat and cure due to the positioning of the abscesses inthe reproductive tract.
Womenare also prone to develop chronic pelvic pain if they have chlamydia that isnot treated at an early stage. The pelvic pain may even continue to remainpresent after the infection has been treated at a later stage.
Can You Get Chlamydia In Your Throat
Its possible, but not likely, that you could get chlamydia in your throat. To understand how or why it could happen, its important to consider how chlamydia is transmitted.
A person can get chlamydia when their mucus membranes, such as those of the vagina, penis, or rectum, come in contact with chlamydia bacteria. These bacteria enter the mucus membranes and multiply.
Chlamydia doesnt always cause symptoms. However, if not treated, the infection can result in damage that cant be reversed.
The most common way chlamydia is spread is through unprotected anal or vaginal sex. The bacteria typically infect and cause symptoms in the location they first entered the body.
Its possible that chlamydia can be transmitted to your throat if you give oral sex to a partner who has contracted a genital chlamydia infection.
Additionally, getting oral sex from someone who has contracted a chlamydia infection of the throat can potentially transmit the bacteria to your genitals.
You cant get chlamydia mouth-to-mouth kissing.
For a reason doctors dont fully understand, chlamydia bacteria more easily infect the groin area, such as the vagina, penis, or rectum, than the mouth.
- mouth sores that dont heal
- sores around lips and mouth
However, you can contract the infection in both the throat and genital area. In addition to a sore throat, you may have chlamydia symptoms in your genitals.
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How Does Chlamydia Affect Pregnancy
Chlamydia can cause a pregnant woman to go into labor early, resulting in premature delivery. All pregnant women should be tested for chlamydia, even if they dont seem to be at risk for the disease. Babies born to infected mothers can get chlamydia of the eyes or have other problems. All babies are automatically given eyedrops right after delivery to avoid gonorrhea or chlamydial infection.
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Can You Die From Chlamydia If Not Treated
According to this study, about 200 people were killed from infections in 2015 which include chlamydia.
However, the chances you could die from chlamydia is very slim.
Chlamydia may cause death through infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease, pelvic abscess, chronic abdominal pain and increased chance of catching HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
Pelvic inflammatory disease, which occurs if chlamydia affects your tubes, uterus, and abdomen, can result in life-threateningectopic pregnancy and pus in your abdomen.
An ectopic pregnancy occurs after a tubal surgery or disruption of inner lining covering the Fallopian tube due to infections. This may cause severe bleeding and death if not urgently treated.
Though chlamydia can easily be treated and cured, any damage from the infection is hardly reversed after treatment.
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Its Possible To Get Chlamydia Through Oral Or Anal Sex
You may have heard that its not possible to get chlamydia through oral or anal sex, but this is just a myth. If you have unprotected vaginal, oral, or anal sex, you could get chlamydia.
While its possible to get chlamydia through any of these sex acts, the risk varies depending on the type of sex youre having. Chlamydia isnt commonly passed through cunnilingus, but its possible. The infection is commonly passed through fellatio and anal sex.
No matter what type of sex youre having, its a good idea to use protection. This may include dental dams or condoms, depending on the sex act. Other types of contraception, like birth control pills and IUDs, dont provide any protection against chlamydia and other sexually transmitted infections.
Chlamydia Is Common But Many People Dont Realize They Have It
About 1.7 million chlamydia infections were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2017, but the real number is likely higher because chlamydia is considered an underreported infection.
“The number of reported cases is substantially lower than the true estimated incidence,” says Bradley Stoner, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and former president of the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association.
The National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System relies on state and local public health departments to collect and report data on chlamydia to the CDC. Those public health departments depend on individual physicians, hospitals, and laboratories to report cases of chlamydia to them. Accurate statistics require all parties to routinely comply with disease-reporting mandates.
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Being Exposed To Another Std
Being successfully treated for chlamydia, gonorrhea, or another STD does not protect you from other STDs In fact, many people become infected with STDs over and over again because they continue to have unprotected sex with partners who have untreated STDs.
If you’ve been treated for an STD and don’t want to get another one, the best thing that you can do is change your behaviors to decrease your risk. That means consistently practicing safe sex and always talking to new partners about STD risk before having sex.
What Happens If Chlamydia Is Not Treated
Expectant mothers who have untreated chlamydia may risk passing the condition on to their baby, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease : PID happens when the infection spreads to your fallopian tubes and/or ovaries, PID can be very painful and can affect the uterus, If left untreated, Tubal pregnancies, Symptoms include arthritis, Chlamydia infection can cause reactive arthritis, and fallopian tubes)
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Antibiotics Are A Highly Effective Cure For Chlamydia Infection
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.
Can You Tell How Long Youve Had Chlamydia
Is it possible to tell how long Ive had chlamydia? Not usually, because chlamydia often doesnt cause any symptoms. This means you can have the infection without knowing you could have had it for months or even years. Depending on how many people youve had sex with, it can be hard to trace it to one person.
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How To Treat Oral Chlamydia
Oral chlamydia is treated in the same way as other chlamydia infections: with antibiotics. The CDC recommends:
- Doxycycline two times a day for seven days
Alternative treatments include:
- Azithromycin in a single dose
- Levofloxacin once a day for seven days
A single dose of azithromycin may be the simplest way to treat chlamydia. However, people have developed resistance to this antibiotic, whereas doxycycline has a nearly 100% cure rate.
After being diagnosed with a chlamydia infection, all sexual partners need to be told and treated as well. You should also refrain from having any sex for seven days after completing treatment.
Chlamydia is easily treated and cured, but you can get chlamydia again. If you are sexually active, it is essential to test for sexually transmitted infections regularly.
What To Think About
Some people who have chlamydia may also have gonorrhea. In that case, treatment includes antibiotics that kill both chlamydia and gonorrhea. For more information, see the topic Gonorrhea.
Reinfection can occur. Symptoms that continue after treatment are probably caused by another chlamydia infection rather than treatment failure. To prevent reinfection, sex partners need to be evaluated and treated.
Repeated chlamydia infections increase the risk for pelvic inflammatory disease . Even one infection can lead to PID without proper treatment. Make sure to take your antibiotics exactly as prescribed. Take the full course of medicine, even if you feel better in a couple of days.
Some doctors recommend retesting 3 to 12 months after treatment to reduce the risk of complications from reinfection.footnote 4
If you have chlamydia, your doctor will send a report to the state health department. Your personal information is kept confidential. The health department may contact you about telling your sex partner or partners that they may need treatment.
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What Are The Risks Of Untreated Chlamydia
STDs or sexually transmitted diseases are of different kinds. Some go away on their own if you are infected, some can be treated with medicine and some cannot be treated and stay with you as long as you are alive. You will get vaccines for some and some can be prevented easily. However, if you are left with a potentially dangerous infection that can wreak havoc if left untreated, it may threaten your life. Chlamydia is one such infection that you get from an infected partner and can be dangerous if you dont treat it on time.
How Do You Get Oral Chlamydia
A person can get oral chlamydia by giving vaginal, penile, or anal oral sex to another person already infected with the bacteria.
Chlamydia trachomatis can also be spread from an infected persons throat to the penis. Research has not shown that the infection can spread from an infected persons throat to the vagina or rectum during oral sex.
Chlamydia does not seem to spread through kissing.
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What Happens If You Have Chlamydia For Too Long
Some sexually transmitted infections are much more prevalent than others and chlamydia is an excellent example of one common STI that affects millions of people. Almost two million people are infected with chlamydia bacterial infection each year in the United States.
Eventhough chlamydia falls within the four major bacterial infections currently considered curable, the condition cancause long-term complications in both men and women if it goes untreated. Themajor concern that does come to mind here is that many people with chlamydiainfection do not experience any obvious symptoms. Without the presence ofsymptoms, many fail to be tested for the infection leading to a higher riskof complications.
Inthis post, we take a closer look at the complications that both men and womenare at risk of if they fail to obtain adequate treatment for the presence of achlamydia infection. We also provide an overview of common symptoms that maysignal chlamydia patients need to take action if they notice these signs,especially if they participated in sexual intercourse prior to the developmentof such symptoms.
Thecomplications Of Untreated Chlamydia
In the majority of cases, the use of antibiotics has been shown to act as an effective treatment for patients infected with chlamydia. Many people do not have symptoms, however which is why testing for the condition, especially in sexually active men and women, should be important. Take a look at chlamydia syptoms with pictures, where you can see how the diesease looks like in real life.
Bothmen and women need to understand the potential complications that can happenwhen they are infected by chlamydia. While there are some short-termcomplications like an infection in the urethra, a number of long-term adverseeffects are also to be taken into account here.
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Who Should Be Tested For Chlamydia
You should go to your health provider for a test if you have symptoms of chlamydia, or if you have a partner who has a sexually transmitted disease. Pregnant women should get a test when they go to their first prenatal visit.
People at higher risk should get checked for chlamydia every year:
- Sexually active women 25 and younger
- Older women who have new or multiple sex partners, or a sex partner who has a sexually transmitted disease
- Men who have sex with men