Chlamydia Treatment

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What is Chlamydia?

Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted infection. You get it by having unprotected sex (vaginal, anal or oral); or from your genitals coming into contact with a sexual partner’s genitals; or from sharing sex toys without washing them or covering them with a condom each time they are used. It is caused by a type of bacteria called Chlamydia trachomatis that lives in semen and vaginal fluids. 

Chlamydia normally infects the genitals, but it can also infect the rectum, eyes or throat.

Could I be infected?

Chlamydia can have very few or no symptoms, which makes it hard to tell if you’ve got it unless you take a test. Some people do present short term symptoms though, most commonly:

Symptoms of Chlamydia in Men:

• A white discharge from the end of the penis
• Burning sensation when urinating
• Sore testicles

(Some men may get mild symptoms that disappear after about 3 days. This doesn’t mean the infection has gone. You can still pass it on and so need to seek treatment.)

Symptoms of Chlamydia in Women:

• Needing to urinate repeatedly (can be accompanied by a burning sensation)
• Unusual and excessive vaginal discharge (usually white or yellow)

Short term symptoms appear roughly two weeks after having unprotected sex, but if you don’t get any symptoms this doesn’t mean that you don’t have Chlamydia. It is often symptomless. It is always better to do a test to check. 

Long term Chlamydia Symptoms and Complications:

• Pain/bleeding during sex
• Vaginal discharge
• Sickness or a very high temperature
• Spotting between periods
• Abnormally heavy periods
• Pain in the back or abdomen
• A weighty feeling round the hips

These are very serious and can be linked to complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease. See a doctor straight away if you have them.

You can also get Chlamydia in your eyes, rectum or throat. If infected semen or vaginal fluid comes into contact with the eyes, you can develop conjunctivitis. If you get an infection in the rectum, it will cause a discharge, along with pain and discomfort, and bleeding. It’s uncommon to get an infection in the throat and this usually has no symptoms.

Risk if untreated

If left untreated, Chlamydia can cause very serious health problems. In women this includes pelvic inflammatory disease, which can cause infertility (not being able to have children) and increased risk of miscarriage. In men, Chlamydia can result in infertility (not being able to have children), swollen testicles (orchitis), and reactive arthritis (inflammation of the joints).

Statistics

The NHS state that in 2010, 186,753 people tested positive for Chlamydia in England. More than 150,000 of these people were young people aged under 24. 5 out of every 10 men with Chlamydia and between 7 and 8 out of every 10 women with Chlamydia don’t notice any symptoms and so don’t know they’ve got it.

Chlamydia Treatment Options

You can treat Chlamydia very easily with a single course of antibiotics. Azithromycin and Doxycycline are the two most commonly prescribed antibiotics to treat Chlamydia. Both work in the same way – they contain the infection and stop it reproducing, so that your body’s immune system can fight off the infection.

95% of people who take their antibiotics according to the prescription’s instructions find that this successfully gets rid of the Chlamydia infection.

The dosage of Azithromycin for most people with Chlamydia is two tablets taken at the same time on one day. The dosage of Doxycycline is usually a longer course - two capsules each day for a week.

Your doctor might suggest a different type of antibiotic if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or if you seem to have had Chlamydia for a long time. You must complete the course of antibiotics, even if your symptoms seem to have cleared up.

Getting Tested

Don’t put off getting tested for Chlamydia. If you have symptoms, do the test straight away. You can take the test anytime, but if it is less than two weeks since you had unprotected sex, your doctor might suggest you do another test when those two weeks are up. This is because the test sometimes doesn’t pick up Chlamydia in its early stages. Often, you don’t need to be physically examined to get tested for Chlamydia. The test can be either a urine test or a swab test. The swab test is where a cotton bud is rubbed gently onto the area where you might have Chlamydia to collect some cells. These can then be tested for signs of the infection.

The test is accurate for over nine out of ten people. Obviously, like most tests it is not one hundred percent perfect, so in very rare cases the test can say you don’t have Chlamydia when you do, or do have Chlamydia when you don’t. You can get the tests done for free at your nearest sexual health clinic or GP surgery, or you can buy a testing kit to do at home. If you are under twenty five, you can often get the test done at a local pharmacy, clinic or college for free as part of the National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP).

Men usually get tested with a urine sample. Very occasionally the doctor might suggest swabbing the top of the urethra (the tube you pass urine through), but normally this is not necessary. Women may be tested with a urine sample, but often the swab test is favoured.

If you have had unprotected oral or anal sex, the doctor might suggest swabbing your rectum or throat. Likewise, if you are showing symptoms in your eyes, the doctor might suggest swabbing your eyelid.

If you have a very high chance of having Chlamydia (for example, if your partner has got it and you’ve been having unprotected sex) your doctor might start you on a course of treatment before your test results come back.

Side effects

The most common side effects of Azithromycin are nausea, diarrhoea, stomach ache and vaginal thrush. Occasionally, you might get a rash as a side effect from doxycycline if you are exposed to too much light.

You should not have sex for seven days after you have finished your antibiotic treatment. If your partner also has Chlamydia, you shouldn’t have sex until seven days after you have both finished the treatment. Otherwise, you risk catching/passing on the infection again.

Your doctor might suggest a different type of antibiotic if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or if you seem to have had Chlamydia for a long time.  Ofloxacin and Erythromycin are other common antibiotics. 

If your test shows that you’ve got Chlamydia, you should contact recent sexual partners (anyone from the last six months) and let them know. The NHS has specialist sexual health advisors who can help you do this, or who can offer to do it for you if you’d prefer not to have the conversation yourself.

Telephone consultation

If you would like personalised advice or have any questions about chlamydia, you can book a telephone consultation with one of our doctors.