Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) spread by the bacteria Chlamydia Trachomatis. It’s one of the most common STDs and affects both men and women. Chlamydia is transmitted through any form of sexual contact, including vaginal, oral, or anal sex.
Who’s at Risk?
To give a broad perspective, anyone who has unprotected sex is at risk of getting the disease. The disease can be transferred even in the absence of ejaculation. Young people are at a higher risk of chlamydia because of a lack of awareness of safe sex.
The older you get and the more sexually active you are, the more careful you should be about STDs in general, and chlamydia in particular. Women under 24, pregnant women, people with multiple partners, and those with other STDs should diligently get screening tests done.
Symptoms
The symptoms of chlamydia are often very subtle and go unnoticed. The symptoms in women include:
- Burning sensation around the vaginal area when urinating.
- Abnormal vaginal discharge.
- Abdominal pain.
- Fever.
- Nausea.
- Bleeding between periods.
- Pain during intercourse.
- Lower back pain.
- Vaginal itching and soreness.
- Bleeding after sex.
The symptoms observed in men include:
- Pain and swelling in testicles.
- Burning sensation during urination.
- Discharge from the penis.
- Itching around genitals.
In the case of rectal chlamydia, both men and women have common symptoms. This type of chlamydia can be passed through anal sex. These symptoms include:
- Rectal pain.
- Mucus discharge.
- Bleeding.
Oral symptoms of chlamydia can be found in the throat. These include redness, soreness, and conjunctivitis (pink eye).
Is Chlamydia Curable?
If you feel like you have chlamydia, you should get in touch with your doctor and get the recommended tests. The infection is usually detected by swabbing the possibly infected area or taking a urine sample. If the results are positive, the doctor will proceed to prescribe you medicines immediately.
Chlamydia is a common STD. Proctologists and gynecologists have worked extensively to find cures for this disease and have attempted to find ways to limit its spread. Usually, chlamydia is completely curable. By using prescribed medications, you can easily get chlamydia out of your system. Doctors typically recommend oral medicines and antibiotics to cure chlamydia. These may include azithromycin (Zithromax), doxycycline, erythromycin, ofloxacin, and levofloxacin. The treatment for chlamydia is the same for an HIV-positive person and an HIV-negative one.
The treatment of chlamydia does not take too long, either. Under normal circumstances, this infection can be treated within one to seven days. Azithromycin is a powerful antibiotic that is sufficient if taken only once in a day. Other medicines may be taken multiple times over the course of several days.
To make sure that your chlamydia is completely cured, you should take your medicines exactly as your physician instructs. You shouldn’t take any more or any less amount of medicine and finish the course. If you forget to take a dose, take one as soon as you remember.
After you complete your medication course, you must refrain from any sexual contact for the following week, at minimum. This is because you are at risk of transmitting chlamydia to your partner, even during antibiotic treatment.
If you discover you have chlamydia when you’re pregnant, you need to be quite vigilant. Inform your medical advisor and gynecologist of this discovery before you get your medical prescriptions. This is because some antibiotics used to treat this STD can cause harm to the baby.
The prescription for chlamydia differs from person to person. People affected by chlamydia should also note that medicines can only cure the disease. Any damage caused by chlamydia cannot be repaired through the same oral medications and will require separate treatment.
Complications with Untreated Chlamydia
Although the infection isn’t too hard to get rid of, there can be complications in some individuals. Pregnant women who are infected with chlamydia are at risk of getting the pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). If the condition isn’t treated promptly, it can worsen and lead to a permanently damaged fallopian tube, ovaries, and uterus. This can lead to ectopic pregnancies and even infertility. PID from chlamydia can also give way to chronic pelvic pain.
If a pregnant woman doesn’t get treated for chlamydia, her unborn baby can also get affected. The disease can be transmitted to the newborn baby and may cause an eye infection or pneumonia. If a pregnant woman has chlamydia, it may also result in premature child delivery.
In men with chlamydia, the complications include prostatitis, inflammation of the coiled tube, and inflammation of the prostate gland. They are also at risk of becoming infertile.
Rectal inflammation is also a common complication of rectal chlamydia and can lead to severe injuries in the area.
How to Prevent Chlamydia
The most important point to be sure of is to complete your entire medication course exactly as your doctor prescribed. If you decide to quit the medication without telling your doctor, the incomplete treatment may bring the disease back.
You should also be upfront about the STD with your sexual partners. Keep the number of active sexual partners you have to a minimum to avoid getting an STD. Also, make sure that both you and your sexual partner get regularly tested for chlamydia.
In order to prevent chlamydia, you should also make sure to keep any objects that you use during sex, clean, and unshared. Dental dams, condoms, and other safe sex measures also keep chlamydia at bay.
It Is Important To Cure Chlamydia
Chlamydia is one of the easily transmitted STDs. Since there’s no concrete way to pick out exactly who carries this disease without a test, you should choose your partner carefully. Luckily, this disease is easy to cure, and if you start treatment early, you can also avoid any permanent damage.
References
https://www.cdc.gov/std/chlamydia/treatment.htm
https://www.healthline.com/health/chlamydia-curable#prevention