How is chlamydia started

If your doctor prescribes a medicine for you to take for seven days, you should wait until you have taken all of the doses before having sex. The initial damage that chlamydia causes often goes unnoticed. However, chlamydia can lead to serious health problems.

If you are a woman, untreated chlamydia can spread to your uterus and fallopian tubes tubes that carry fertilized eggs from the ovaries to the uterus. This can cause pelvic inflammatory disease PID. PID often has no symptoms, however some women may have abdominal and pelvic pain. PID can lead to long-term pelvic pain, inability to get pregnant , and potentially deadly ectopic pregnancy pregnancy outside the uterus.

Men rarely have health problems linked to chlamydia. Infection sometimes spreads to the tube that carries sperm from the testicles, causing pain and fever. Rarely, chlamydia can prevent a man from being able to have children. Box Rockville, MD E-mail: npin-info cdc.

Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Minus Related Pages. Basic Fact Sheet Detailed Version Basic fact sheets are presented in plain language for individuals with general questions about sexually transmitted diseases.

To give you technically accurate, evidence-based information, content published on the Everlywell blog is reviewed by credentialed professionals with expertise in medical and bioscience fields. Read more: How is chlamydia transmitted? Can you develop a chlamydia infection on your own? How easily is chlamydia transmitted? How can you tell if you have chlamydia? How can you get rid of chlamydia?

Everlywell at-home STD testing for women can tell you whether you have chlamydia or other common STDs without having to go to a clinic. Chlamydia is a bacterial infection caused by Chlamydia trachomatis. This contact is not limited to vaginal intercourse; you can also contract oral chlamydia through oral sex, although it is a less common cause of Chlamydia trachomatis infections.

You can also spread chlamydia to different parts of your body without sexual contact. If you have a chlamydia infection in your vagina, you could spread it to your anus just by the act of wiping after you use the bathroom. You could also transmit a chlamydia infection to your eye, simply with hand-to-eye contact.

Keep in mind that this form of eye infection is rare, but can still occur if your hands come in contact with the bacteria that causes chlamydia infections. In short, there are many different ways you can contract or spread chlamydia. Also, see your doctor if you learn your sexual partner has chlamydia. Your doctor will likely prescribe an antibiotic even if you have no symptoms. The Chlamydia trachomatis bacterium is most commonly spread through vaginal, oral and anal sex.

It's also possible for pregnant women to spread chlamydia to their children during delivery, causing pneumonia or a serious eye infection in the newborns. The surest way to prevent chlamydia infection is to abstain from sexual activities. Short of that, you can:. Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products.

Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. Sexual partners may be infected too. If you have chlamydia, anyone you have had sex with from the last 6 months needs to be informed, tested and treated.

Most people will appreciate being told they may have an infection and it is an important step in preventing further infection in the community. Your local GP and sexual health centre can help you inform your partners and let them know that they need a test.

It can be done anonymously, and your confidentiality is always respected. You can also anonymously notify your sexual partners of the need to get tested and treated for chlamydia via the Let Them Know website if you feel unable to speak to them personally. There are also nurses called partner notification officers who can help you anonymously notify your partners.

They can be contacted on 03 If you are not sure whether your sexual partner s will seek treatment, ask your doctor for extra chlamydia medication or a prescription. You can give it to them so they can be treated as soon as possible. This is known as patient delivered partner therapy PDPT for chlamydia.

Talk to your doctor to see if PDPT is right for you and your sexual partner s. Safer sex practices reduce the risk of STI transmission. Ways to reduce your risk of catching chlamydia include:. This page has been produced in consultation with and approved by:. Anthrax is a rare but potentially fatal bacterial disease that occasionally infects humans.

The Western obsession with cleanliness may be partly responsible for the increase in allergic asthma and conditions such as rhinitis. Careful prescribing of antibiotics will minimise the emergence of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria.

Aspergillus is a fungus that commonly grows on rotting vegetation. It can cause asthma symptoms. The simplest form of prevention for lyssavirus is to avoid close contact with bats. Content on this website is provided for information purposes only.