Chlamydia trachomitis, better known simply as chlamydia, is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by a bacterial infection. Chlamydia is one of the most common STDs in the world and is highly contagious. Part of the reason that chlamydia is so contagious and infectious is that people spread it without even realizing they have it.
While chlamydia can have serious health ramifications, it exhibits very few symptoms in the early stages. For this reason, it’s tough to know when you have chlamydia. However, once you are diagnosed with chlamydia and start treatment, recovery is usually quick and certain.
Chlamydia can be tricky to diagnose because many people with it don’t exhibit symptoms. Symptoms may or may not worsen the longer you have the condition. Here’s what to look for if you think you have chlamydia.
Roughly half of people with chlamydia don’t display symptoms for at least two weeks after they contract it. Therefore, chlamydia is one of the easiest STDs to spread to others. The main thing to look for in both men and women is an unusual or unexpected discharge from the penis or vagina.
As an STD, chlamydia spreads via anal, vaginal, or oral sex and results from infected bacteria. The infected bacteria are located in the semen of men or vaginal fluids of women and spread to another person when they come in contact with the infected semen or vaginal fluid.
While anyone can get chlamydia from having unprotected sex with an infected person, a few risk factors increase your chances of infection.
While anyone can get chlamydia, your chances increase if you check off one or more of the risk factors above. Therefore, it’s important that you only engage in safe sexual practices if you want to avoid this condition.
Because of how common and easily spread chlamydia is, it’s becoming a major problem. Therefore, medical professionals are placing an increased emphasis on getting tested if you suspect you have chlamydia, especially if you’re under the age of 25. Diagnosis is only possible when you see a medical professional, and here are some of the things they’ll use to form a diagnosis.
While a health and medical history is a good start, your doctor must administer a swab test to form a concrete diagnosis.
While chlamydia symptoms are tough to detect, diagnosis and treatment are straightforward. Chlamydia is treated through oral antibiotics, and your symptoms typically clear up in one to two weeks. However, it’s important to take your medications until the end of the prescribed treatment time. You should also go to a follow-up appointment with your doctor to confirm you no longer have chlamydia.
During your treatment, it’s important to abstain from intercourse. You should also take preventative measures to avoid getting chlamydia again. Finally, even though the symptoms of chlamydia might seem minor, it can permanently damage your reproductive organs if you leave chlamydia untreated.