The Secret "C"
Chlamydia is one of the most widespread
bacterial sexually transmitted diseases in the US. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates more than 3 million people are infected each year. Chlamydia is known as a “silent” disease because about three quarters of infected women and about half of infected men have no symptoms. If symptoms do occur, they usually appear within 1 to 3 weeks after exposure.
Any sexually active person can be infected with chlamydia. The greater the number of sex partners, the greater the risk of infection. Because the cervix of teenage
girls and young women is not fully matured, they are particularly at high risk for infection.
Caused by the bacterium, Chlamydia trachomatis, the disease can damage a woman’s reproductive organs. Even though symptoms are usually mild or often absent, serious complications that cause irreversible
damage, including infertility, can occur “silently” before a woman ever recognizes a problem.
In women, the bacteria initially infect the cervix and the urethra. Women might notice an abnormal vaginal discharge or a burning sensation when urinating. Even when infection spreads from the cervix to the fallopian tubes, some women still have no signs or symptoms. Others may experience
lower abdominal pain, low back pain, nausea, fever, pain during intercourse, or bleeding between menstrual periods. Oral and rectal Chlamydial infection can also occur.
If untreated, chlamydial infections can progress to serious reproductive and other health problems with short-term and long-term consequences. Like the disease itself, the damage that chlamydia causes is often “silent.”
In about 40 percent of women with untreated chlamydia, the infection spreads into the uterus or fallopian tubes and causes pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). PID can cause permanent damage to the fallopian
tubes, uterus, and surrounding tissues, damage that can lead to chronic pelvic pain, infertility, and potentially fatal ectopic pregnancy
(pregnancy outside the uterus). Each year up to 1 million women in the United States develop PID, a serious infection of the reproductive organs and as many as half of all cases may be due to chlamydial infection.
Women infected with chlamydia are up to five times more likely to become infected with HIV, if exposed.
Chlamydia can also be passed from an infected mother to her baby during vaginal
childbirth. There is some evidence that untreated chlamydia infections can lead to premature delivery. Babies who are born to infected mothers can get the infection in their eyes and respiratory tracts and Chlamydia is a leading cause of early infant pneumonia and conjunctivitis (pink eye) in newborns.
Though rare, genital chlamydial infectioncan cause arthritis that can be accompanied
by skin lesions and inflammation of the eye and urethra, a condition known as Reiter’s syndrome.
Annual screening for chlamydia is recommended
for all sexually active women age 25 years and younger. An annual screening test also is recommended for older women with a new sex partner or multiple
sex partners. And, all pregnant women should have a screening test for chlamydia.
Chlamydia is diagnosed by urine or specimen testing and is easily treated and cured with oral antibiotics.
All sex partners should be evaluated, tested, and treated. Anyone with chlamydia should abstain from sex until they and their partners have completed treatment, otherwise
re-infection is possible. Women are frequently re-infected if their sex partners are not treated. Multiple infections increase a woman’s risk of serious reproductive health complications, including infertility. Retesting should be considered for women, especially adolescents, three to four months after treatment.
Women who aren’t in a monogamous relationship can reduce their risk of chlamydia
transmission by using condoms correctly
and consistently. PL
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