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You May Not Know You Have Chlamydia until It’s too Late
By Andrew M. Gibson | April 2, 2010
The CDC figures claim Chlamydia is on the rise in the US. With over a million cases reported each year, the number of people actually infected with the disease is unknown. The disease is often completely asymptomatic. So, if you are having sex, do you and your partner both a favor. Help stop the rise of Chlamydia by undergoing simple STD testing.
What is asymptomatic?
Asymptomatic simply means you show no signs or symptoms of the infection. This is particularly true with Chlamydia. Many call Chlamydia the “silent” disease. Only about 25% of women with the disease show symptoms and about 50% of men.
This is what makes Chlamydia especially dangerous. Because there are no symptoms, you are unaware you have anything wrong with you. Unfortunately, this increases the chances of unknowingly passing the disease on. Chlamydia Testing can be performed to find out if you have the disease. And treatment can start right away if your result is positive.
What are symptoms of Chlamydia?
If you are showing symptoms, they might be:
Women
- nausea
- abnormal vaginal discharge
- lower abdominal pain
- burning sensation during urination
- pain with intercourse
- lower back pain
- fever
- -bleeding between periods
Men
- burning or itching around penis opening
- penile discharge
- testicular pain and swelling
- burning sensation during urination
What are adverse effects of Chlamydia?
Chlamydia, left untreated, can cause many serious adverse effects for both women and men.
For women, the untreated infection can spread to the reproductive organs and cause pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). This occurs in 40% of women when their Chlamydial infection is left untreated. What does PID do?
PID causes permanent damage to the fallopian tubes, the uterus, and surrounding tissue. Women may experience pelvic pain, ectopic pregnancy, and infertility.
If a pregnant woman has Chlamydia, she can pass the disease to her baby during delivery. The baby can be born with conjunctivitis (pink eye), or sometimes pneumonia.
For men, complications are rare; but can occur. If the infection spreads to the tube that carries the sperm from the testis (the epididymis), a man can experience fever, pain, and sometimes sterility.
To help reduce the rapid rise of Chlamydia, the CDC recommends all sexually active women under 25 receive STD testing once a year for Chlamydia. A once a year test is also recommended for women 25 and over who have risk factors such as a new sex partner or many sex partners. If you are pregnant, you should have Chlamydia testing right away.
How is Chlamydia treated?
Chlamydia is curable. If you test positive, treatment is inexpensive, easy and safe. One dose of azithromycin or a weeklong dose of doxycycline (2 times a day) is the most commonly prescribed treatments.
To evade complications such as PID, the CDC recommends women be retested three to four months after initial treatment. Especially if she is unsure if her sex partner sought treatment.
Topics: Chlamydia testing, STD Testing | No Comments »