Understanding Chlamydia - What is it and How is it Treated?

Chlamydia is the commonest sexually transmitted infection and is showing a dramatic rise in the UK in recent years.  Incidences have risen by around 10% since 2002, but the true figure may be higher as often there are no symptoms and as such many women do not get tested.
  
 

What happens if a Chlamydia Infection is not Treated?

If you have a chlamydia infection, it may or may not give you symptoms. If you have symptoms, such as a discharge, the symptom may disappear in a few days. This doesn't mean that your body has cured itself of the infection. You're likely to still be carrying the chlamydia bacterium and can pass it on to others. Also, if you are a woman, it can start to travel towards your Fallopian tubes. So it's vital to be tested, even if the symptoms have gone.

Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

In most women who have it, chlamydia travels no further than the cervix (neck of the womb at the top if the vagina). But in about 1 in 10, it travels further upwards through the uterus (womb) into the Fallopian tubes. In the Fallopian tubes it can cause inflammation known as ‘pelvic inflammatory disease’ or PID. Other types of bacteria may then move in making the inflammation worse. PID may be painful, but can occur without any pain at all. If the infection is treated at this stage, the tube may recover completely, or some scarring and other damage may remain.

Infertility

The Fallopian tube is where the sperm meets the egg, and where fertilization occurs. So if a woman’s tubes have been damaged by PID in the past, the egg and sperm will not be able to travel along it easily, and she may not be able to conceive. If she does conceive, there is a possibility that the fertilized egg could get stuck in the tube, and the baby would start to develop in the tube instead of in the uterus. This is called ‘ectopic pregnancy’ and is a bad situation, because the developing baby almost always dies in early pregnancy, and there will be dangerous internal bleeding.

How you get chlamydia?

Chlamydia is passed on during sex, but using a condom gives good protection if you use it properly. You can also catch chlamydia during oral sex, because it can be carried in the back of the mouth. Because most people with chlamydia do not know that they have it, they can pass it on to someone else unknowingly. It is not caught from toilet seats or swimming pools.

 How do you know if you have chlamydia?

In women, chlamydia infection is usually symptomless, so they are unaware that they have it – 80% of women with chlamydia have no symptoms at all. Some women notice a slightly increased discharge, or slight bleeding between periods or after sex. If it has reached the Fallopian tubes it can cause pain in the lower part of the abdomen. 

When to have a chlamydia test

Several situations in which it would be sensible to have a chlamydia test are:

• if you have symptoms, such as discharge or lower abdominal pain.
• if your partner has symptoms
• if you had sex with a new partner without a condom in the past year
• if your partner has had a chlamydia infection and you are not sure if he/she was properly treated
• if you had treatment for a chlamydia infection, but your partner did not have treatment
• if you and your partner had treatment for a chlamydia infection, but had sex before the treatment was completed
• if you have another sexually transmitted infection (such as genital warts )
• if you are about to have a termination of pregnancy (abortion). 

 Treatment for chlamydia 

The good news is that chlamydia is easily treated, usually with doxycycline antibiotic. This treatment is over 95% effective if you take the full course (usually twice a day for 7 days) exactly as instructed by your doctor.
It is essential that your partner is treated as well. If your partner is not treated at the same time as you, you can catch it again from him/her. This is a bad thing for women, because the more times a woman has a chlamydia infection, the greater her risk of later infertility. So do not have sex (even with a condom) until both of you have completed your treatment.

You may feel anxious about telling your partner about the infection. Sometimes partners do not believe they could have it themselves, because they probably have no symptoms. So explain that most people with chlamydia do not know that they have it.
 
 

Useful links

The Family Planning Service has lots of useful information and a centre finder which is very easy to use.

The NHS Direct website has excellent information on Chlamydia.

Testnow.co.uk supply chlamydia home testing kits.

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