Chlamydia infection is classified as an STI (sexually transmitted infection). It’s caused by a bacteria called Chlamydia trachomatis. This is also an organism that causes lymphogranuloma venereum infections. People that usually got this infection are people having unprotected sex with someone that has chlamydia.

Chlamydia is just one of the many infections classified as STI since the most common cause of getting one is thru sexual contact (oral, vaginal, anal) with a person exposed to it. This is one of the challenging STI infections to date, mostly because (if not often), Chlamydia infection is asymptomatic (no symptoms) and if you do have symptoms, it won’t show up, not until several weeks at least.

The common symptoms of STI: As stated above, Chlamydia is asymptomatic most of the time, but it doesn’t mean that some don’t have symptoms. If you ever got one, these symptoms can help you determine if you do have an infection. These symptoms are common STI symptoms:

Women:

• Abnormal vaginal discharge (can have a strong odor)
• Pain during urination
• Pain during intercourse
• lower abdominal pain
• Fever
• Rectal pain (can possibly have bleeding and discharge)

Men:

• Abnormal penile discharge
• Pain during urination
• Burning or itching sensation in the glans penis
• Pain and swelling in either one or both the testicles
• Rectal pain (can possibly have bleeding and discharge)

Treatment and prevention of Chlamydia: The Chlamydia treatment is mainly in taking antibiotics. Oral antibiotics should already suffice and works really well with Chlamydia infections. The usual advice is take it orally, three times a day for seven days. This is where it gets tricky because an antibiotic is a serious stuff and you need to religiously follow your dosage, time and days before you can call yourself Chlamydia-free. Here are the usual drugs:

• Amoxicillin
• Azithromycin
• doxycycline
• erythromycin
• levofloxacin
• Ofloxacin

For pregnant women, only these drugs are given since most are teratogenic:

• Erythromycin
• Amoxicillin
• Azithromycin

Prevention has always been about protected sex and only have one sexual partner. If you are engaged with a person that is engaged in casual sex, you need to get screened. If you got Chlamydia and you are under medication, you can’t be engaged in any sexual activity till then and even after 7 days.

Long-term effects of Chlamydia: Because Chlamydia is mostly asymptomatic, it made this infection very dangerous. Long-term Chlamydia infection can cause infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), ectopic pregnancy and chronic pelvic pain. If untreated, it can move to the upper reproductive tract. uterus, fallopian tubes, and the surrounding areas which will cause more inflammation, pain, and discomfort. The only way to prevent this is to get screened, especially if your activities are part of its risk factors.

Chlamydia is one of the common “silent” sexually transmitted infection to date. It being asymptomatic is also the reason why it never gets treated. It can cause some serious problems if the infection never gets untreated over time, causing discomfort, pain, sterility and pregnancy problems. It can be easily treated with oral antibiotics and the only way to detect it is to get screened, especially is your lifestyle makes you prone to it.