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STDs
Chlamydia
What Is Chlamydia?
Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) that infects between 3 million and 4 million Americans each year. It is thought to be more common that gonorrhea, herpes, and syphilis combined. Chlamydia, named for the tiny bacterium (Chlamydia Trachomatis) that causes it, may infect men, women, and infants. It is a major cause of inflammation of the urethra in men, of inflammation of the cervix and various pelvic infections in women and is the leading cause of inflammation of the eye in newborn infants.
Is Chlamydia The Same As Gonorrhea?
No. While the symptoms of these two diseases are often similar, they are two different diseases, caused by different germs, and diagnosed by different tests. Moreover, you can have both of these diseases at the same time. In fact 60% of the people diagnosed as having gonorrhea may also have chlamydia.
How Do You Get Chlamydia?
Chlamydia is most often spread by sexual contact with an infected person. It is transmitted by contact with the skin inside the vagina, mouth, eyes, urethra or rectum. Babies can get chlamydia during birth if the mother has this infection.
How Can I Know If I Have Chlamydia?
The only way to know for certain whether you have chlamydia or not is to be examined. About 20% of the men who have chlamydia have no noticeable signs or symptoms of the disease. About 80% of the women who have it have no symptoms until complications set in. Certain individuals are more at risk of acquiring chlamydia infection. Heterosexual men and women under 25 years old who have multiple sex partners are at a greater risk than others. Anyone however, can be infected.
What Are The Signs Or Symptoms Of Chlamydia That May Appear?
For those men and women who display symptoms of chlamydia, the symptoms will appear anytime up to one year after they have been exposed (usually through sexual contact) to someone with chlamydia. The symptoms are often similar to those of gonorrhea. In men they may include: a painful burning sensation when urinating; a watery discharge from the penis; and a burning and itching around the opening of the penis. In women, symptoms include: vaginal itching; abnormal vaginal discharge; pelvic pain often with nausea and fever; painful urination; and a frequent need to urinate.
What Are The Effects Of Chlamydia?
The effects of chlamydia are harmful, and if left untreated, very dangerous. In men, chlamydia causes over 50% of all non-gonococcal urethritis, an inflammation of the urethra. If this is not treated, the inflammation may become chronic. The chlamydia infection can also spread to the men's testicles, causing an inflammation called epididymitis.
Chlamydia infections in women usually start with an inflammation of the cervix called mucopurulent cervicitis. From there, infection can spread to other organs in the pelvic cavity-the uterus, fallopian tubes, or ovaries. The result is pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). PID associated with chlamydia strikes an estimated 400,000 American women every year. If PID is not controlled, chronic infection may develop. These recurrent episodes of infection and pain are not necessarily related to sexual activity. When infection is severe, sterility can result because of scar tissue and adhesions in the reproductive organs.
In newborn infants, chlamydia is the most common cause of conjunctivitis, an eye infection. One to two weeks after birth, the infected infant's eyes develop a redness and pus discharge. This condition develops in 20 to 50% of newborns whose mothers have chlamydia. 100,000 babies suffer this eye infection every year. Pneumonia is also a threat if the chlamydia spreads into the infant's lungs. Chlamydia is the leading cause of pneumonia in infants under 6 months of age. Pneumonia infects 5 to 20% of infants whose mothers had chlamydia at the time of birth, more than 30,000 babies a year.
Can Chlamydia Be Cured?
Yes. Chlamydia is curable with the right antibiotics. Not all antibiotics will kill chlamydia. It is important that you follow your doctor's instructions regarding your medication. You must take all the prescribed medicine, otherwise more persistent strains of the infection can result.
Unfortunately, treatment with antibiotics may be too late to offset some of chlamydia's complications. Sometimes the surgical removal of scar tissue is necessary for women with PID. Surgery to remove blockages of the fallopian tubes may rarely be successful in reversing sterility.
Persons who think they may have Chlamydia can be tested and treated at the Free clinic run by the Erie County Health Department. The clinic is located in Room 262 of the Rath Building at 95 Franklin Street. The Free walk-in clinic is open from 8:30am to 11:30am and from 1:00pm to 3:30pm, Monday through Friday. A clinic is also available at the Erie County Medical Center STD Clinic from 1:00pm to 3:30pm, Thursday and Friday afternoons. You do not need an appointment.
How Can I Decrease The Risk Of Chlamydia Infection And Complications For Myself And Others?
The following practices can reduce your risk of contracting chlamydia; however they are not 100% guaranteed:
- Avoid sexual relations with numerous partners. Next to abstinence, long term sexual relations with only one person who also has sex only with you, is the best preventive method.
- Use basic methods of contraception such as a condom (rubber) and a diaphragm together with a contraceptive foam or water based lubricant.
- Wash the sexual organs with soap and water after intercourse.
- During pregnancies, ask the doctor caring for you if chlamydia testing is being performed. If not, request that your doctor test for chlamydia. If the test is positive, ask your doctor to treat your spouse or sexual partner and yourself at once. Retesting for chlamydia should take place after treatment.
Note: If you should develop chlamydia or any other sexual transmitted disease then...
- Refer your sexual partner(s) to a clinic for medical evaluation and treatment. Tell them you are being treated for chlamydia. Explain that they could have chlamydia even if they have no noticeable symptoms.
- Take all medications prescribed for you. Do not share your medications with your partner(s).
- Abstain from sexual activity until the medication and all other treatment is completed for yourself and your partner(s)
If symptoms recur, cease all sexual activity and seek medical care. If you have any other questions about chlamydia, call your physician or the Erie County Health Department's Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic at 858-7687.
Updated: March 2002
Source: Erie County Department of Health
Your information resource from the government of Erie County, New York
