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Libido > STD's > Chlamydia - An STD To Be Aware Of
What is
Chlamydial Infection?
Chlamydia infection is a curable sexually
transmitted disease (STD), which is caused by a
bacterium called Chlamydia trachomatis. You can get
genital chlamydial infection during oral, vaginal, or
anal sexual contact with an infected partner. It can
cause serious problems in men and women as well as in
newborn babies of infected mothers.
Chlamydial infection
is now one of the most widespread bacterial STD's.
What Are the
Symptoms of This STD?
Because chlamydial infection does not make
most people sick, you can have it and not know it.
Those who do have symptoms may have an abnormal
discharge (mucus or pus) from the vagina or penis or
pain while urinating. These early symptoms may be
very mild. Symptoms usually appear within one to
three weeks after being infected. Because the
symptoms may be mild or not exist at all, you might
not seek care and get treated.
The infection may move
inside the body if it is not treated. There, it can
cause pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) in women and
epidydimitis in men, two very serious illnesses.
C. trachomatis can
cause inflamed rectum and inflammation of the lining
of the eye ("pink eye"). The bacteria also
can infect the throat from oral sexual contact with
an infected partner.
How Does the Doctor
Diagnose Chlamydial Infection?
Chlamydial infection
is easily confused with gonorrhea because the
symptoms of both diseases are similar and the
diseases can occur together, though rarely.
The most reliable ways
to find out whether the infection is chlamydial are
through laboratory tests. Usually, a doctor or other
health care worker will send a sample of pus from the
vagina or penis to a laboratory that will look for
the bacteria.
The urine test does
not require a pelvic exam or swabbing of the penis.
Results from the urine test are available within 24
hours.
How is
Chlamydial Infection Treated?
If you are infected with C. trachomatis,
your doctor or other health care worker will probably
give you a prescription for an antibiotic such as
azithromycin (taken for one day only) or doxycycline
(taken for seven days) to treat people with
chlamydial infection. Or, you might get a
prescription for another antibiotic such as
erythromycin or ofloxacin.
Doctors may treat
pregnant women with azithromycin or erythromycin, or
sometimes, with amoxicillin. Penicillin, which
doctors often use to treat some other STDs, won't
cure chlamydial infections.
If you have
chlamydial infection:
Take all of the prescribed medicine, even
after symptoms disappear.
If the symptoms do not
disappear within one to two weeks after finishing the
medicine, go to your doctor or clinic again.
It is very important
to tell your sex partners that you have chlamydial
infection so that they can be tested and treated.
What Can
Happen if the Infection is Not Treated?
In women, untreated chlamydial infections
can lead to PID. In men, untreated chlamydial
infections may lead to pain or swelling in the
scrotal area, which is a sign of inflammation of a
part of the male reproductive system located near the
testicles known as the epididymis. Left untreated,
these complications can prevent people from having
children.
Each year up to 1
million women in the United States develop PID, a
serious infection of the reproductive organs. As many
as half of all cases of PID may be due to chlamydial
infection, and many of these don't have symptoms. PID
can cause scarring of the fallopian tubes, which can
block the tubes and prevent fertilization from taking
place. Researchers estimate that 100,000 women each
year become infertile because of PID.
In other cases,
scarring may interfere with the passage of the
fertilized egg to the uterus during pregnancy. When
this happens, the egg may attach itself to the
fallopian tube. This is called ectopic or tubal
pregnancy. This very serious condition results in a
miscarriage and can cause death of the mother.
Can Chlamydial
Infection Affect a Newborn Baby?
A baby who is exposed to C. trachomatis in
the birth canal during delivery may develop an eye
infection or pneumonia. Symptoms of conjunctivitis or
"pink eye," which include discharge and
swollen eyelids, usually develop within the first 10
days of life.
Symptoms of pneumonia,
including a cough that gets steadily worse and
congestion, most often develop within three to six
weeks of birth. Doctors can treat both conditions
successfully with antibiotics. Because of these risks
to the newborn, many doctors recommend that all
pregnant women get tested for chlamydial infection.
How Can I
Prevent Getting Chlamydial Infection?
You can reduce your chances of getting
Chlamydia or of giving it to your partner by using
male latex condoms correctly every time you have
sexual intercourse.
If you are infected
but have no symptoms, you may pass the bacteria to
your sex partners without knowing it. Therefore, any
doctors recommend that anyone who has more than one
sex partner, especially women under 25 years of age,
be tested for chlamydial infection regularly, even if
they don't have symptoms.
What Research
is Going On?
Scientists are looking for better ways to
diagnose, treat, and prevent chlamydial infections.
NIAID-supported scientists recently completed
sequencing the genome for C. trachomatis. The
sequence represents an encyclopaedia of information
about the organism. This accomplishment will give
scientists important information as they try to
develop a safe and effective vaccine. Developing
topical microbicides (preparations that can be
inserted into the vagina to prevent infection) that
are effective and easy for women to use is also a
major research focus.
Buy and Use Condoms - Cover your stump before you hump!!
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