Chlamydia is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and therefore it’s important to know where it comes from, and how you can guard your wellbeing against it. The bacterial infection is found in semen and vaginal fluids, and so it’s often passed from one person to another during vaginal, oral or anal sex, or by sharing sex toys. However, if you’re pregnant, you can also pass chlamydia on to your baby, and the infection can live inside the cells of anyone’s cervix, urethra, rectum and sometimes in the throat and eyes.
So that’s chlamydia, but how do you know if you have it? Unfortunately, chlamydia has been dubbed the ‘silent infection’, because it often doesn’t present any obvious signs or symptoms, or they’re so mild they go unnoticed. However, there are symptoms that can indicate you have the infection, and these arise from a week after you’ve come into contact with chlamydia, or many months later, or not until the infection spreads to other parts of your body.
If you’re a woman, you should be wary of unusual vaginal discharge, bleeding between periods or during or after sex, pain with sex or when passing urine and lower abdominal pain, whilst guys need to look out for white or cloudy watery discharge from the tip of the penis and pain when passing urine or painful testicles. Chlamydia in the throat is uncommon, and usually has no symptoms, but if it’s in your eye or rectum, you may experience discomfort, pain or discharge.
So what do you do if you think you might have chlamydia? Quick, testing is of the utmost importance and, luckily, this is simple swab-test is free on the NHS from genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics, sexual health clinics, many contraception clinics, your GP and pharmacies. You may even be able to receive a testing kit in the post, or be tested in other settings such as youth clubs and colleges. Whilst home testing kits are available, make sure you get good advice from a pharmacist as the accuracy of these tests varies.
The infection is easily treated with antibiotics, either as a single dose or longer course for up to two weeks, but if you think you might be pregnant, or you are on the pill or the contraceptive patch, you need to tell your doctor or nurse as this might affect the type of antibiotic you’re given. Your sexual partners also should be treated; as if the infection goes untreated it can cause permanent damage, including infertility.
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