Does chlamydia hurt

What Are the Symptoms & Signs of Chlamydia?

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Chlamydia
What are chlamydia symptoms?
Should I get tested for chlamydia?

How do I get treated for chlamydia?
How is chlamydia prevented?

People with chlamydia usually don’t have symptoms, so most people don’t know they have it. If you do notice signs of chlamydia, get tested. Here’s what to look for.

Chlamydia usually has no symptoms.

Chlamydia can be sneaky, because you probably won’t have any symptoms you can see or feel. Sometimes the signs of chlamydia are so mild that people don’t notice them, or they mistake the symptoms for something else. Most of the time, people don’t even realize they have chlamydia — that’s part of the reason it’s such a common infection (and why it’s so important to get tested).

Chlamydia can lead to serious infections and even infertility if you don’t treat it. But it’s usually easy to cure it with medicine if you catch it early. This is why regular STD testing is so important, no matter how healthy you feel.

Signs of chlamydia

If you do have chlamydia symptoms, they can take several weeks after you got the infection to show up. Symptoms of chlamydia can appear in both men and women, including:

pain or burning while peeing
pain during sex
lower belly pain
abnormal vaginal discharge (may be yellowish and have a strong smell)
bleeding between periods
pus or a watery/milky discharge from the penis
swollen or tender testicles
pain, discharge and/or bleeding around the anus

If chlamydia infects your eyes, you may have redness, skin discoloration around your eye, itching, or discharge. Sometimes chlamydia infections in the throat cause soreness, but it’s rare.

If you or your partner has any of these symptoms, go to a nurse, doctor, or your local Planned Parenthood Health Center. It’s especially important to get checked out if you’re pregnant.

Remember, most people don’t show any signs at all when they have chlamydia. That’s why the only way to find out for sure if you have chlamydia is to get tested.

Chlamydia - Symptoms - NHS

Most people who have chlamydia don't notice any symptoms.

If you do get symptoms, these usually appear between 1 and 3 weeks after having unprotected sex with an infected person. For some people they don't develop until many months later.

Sometimes the symptoms can disappear after a few days. Even if the symptoms disappear you may still have the infection and be able to pass it on.

Symptoms in women

At least 70% of women with chlamydia don't notice any symptoms. If they do get symptoms, the most common include:

pain when urinating
unusual vaginal discharge
pain in the tummy or pelvis
pain during sex
bleeding after sex
bleeding between periods

If chlamydia is left untreated, it can spread to the womb and cause a serious condition called pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). This is a major cause of ectopic pregnancy and infertility in women.

Read more about the complications of chlamydia.

Symptoms in men

At least half of all men with chlamydia don't notice any symptoms. If they do get symptoms, the most common include:

pain when urinating
white, cloudy or watery discharge from the tip of the penis
burning or itching in the urethra (the tube that carries urine out of the body)
pain in the testicles

If chlamydia is left untreated, the infection can cause swelling in the epididymis (the tubes that carry sperm from the testicles) and the testicles. This could affect your fertility.

Read more about the complications of chlamydia.

Chlamydia in the rectum, throat or eyes

Chlamydia can also infect:

the rectum (back passage) if you have unprotected anal sex – this can cause discomfort and discharge from your rectum
the throat if you have unprotected oral sex – this is uncommon and usually causes no symptoms
the eyes if they come into contact with infected semen or vaginal fluid – this can cause eye redness, pain and discharge (conjunctivitis)

When to seek medical advice

If you have any symptoms of chlamydia, visit your GP, community contraceptive service or local genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinic as soon as possible.

Find a sexual health clinic.

You should also get tested if you don't have any symptoms but are concerned you could have a sexually transmitted infection (STI).

If you're a woman, sexually active and under 25 in England, it's recommended that you have a chlamydia test once a year, and when you have sex with new or casual partners.

If you're a man, sexually active and under 25 in England, it's recommended that you have a chlamydia test once a year if you are not using condoms with new or casual partners.

Chlamydia - an invisible insidious enemy

Urogenital chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted disease. At least 10-15% of young sexually active people are infected with chlamydia. In Ukraine, chlamydia occurs 2-3 times more often than gonorrhea. Given that chlamydia often occurs without pronounced symptoms, is difficult to diagnose in the laboratory, is poorly treated, and gives many complications, it should be expected that it becomes a threat to life.

The incidence of venereal chlamydia has been officially registered in Ukraine since 1994. The number of newly diagnosed cases is increasing every year. About 100 million people are infected with it every year. Proved: in our country, chlamydia ranks second in the "popularity" of diseases after the flu. It affects half of the men of active sexual age (from 16 years old) and a third of the female population.

Widespread chlamydial infection is largely associated with a chaotic sexual life, frequent change of sexual partners. Having fallen ill at the age of 16-18, until the age of 22-25, many can no longer fully realize their childbearing function, the reason is a long-term chronic inflammatory process, and often with various complications.

Chlamydia is a unique parasite, unlike any other: it lives inside the cells of the mucous membranes. Penetrates the cell like a virus. And then, having its own DNA like a bacterium, it suppresses the cell, takes energy from it and forces it to produce its own kind. The cell dies - it breaks, and new chlamydia come out of it, which attack new cells.

The incubation period for chlamydia is approximately 10-21 days. It should be noted that in 80% of cases, chlamydia occurs without pronounced symptoms or does not manifest itself at all: only 5 out of 100 infected people suspect something is wrong. In the morning there may be glassy discharge from the urethra, discomfort during urination, a slight increase in body temperature. Even without treatment, after a while, the symptoms of the disease disappear.

Chlamydia becomes chronic, "preserved" in the body, waiting for a chance to remind about itself.

The main danger of chlamydia lies in the complications it causes. In men - chronic prostatitis, vesiculitis, infertility, and then impotence.

In women, 87% are lesions of the cervix, precancerous conditions: erosion, cervicitis, dysplasia, and inflammation of the appendages, which in turn leads to infertility, ectopic pregnancy, pathology of fetal development, infection of the newborn. In 68% of cases, chlamydia causes acute urethral syndrome - frequent painful urination.

In addition to various complications of the genital organs, chlamydia causes damage to other organs: eyes (chlamydial conjunctivitis), joints, skin, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, central nervous and cardiovascular systems.

Diagnosis of chlamydia is difficult and expensive. its cost ranges from 50 to 200 hryvnia.

Due to the peculiarities of the development of chlamydia, the treatment is also complex and lengthy. Both partners should be treated. After the end of the course of treatment in 2-3 months, control tests. It is safe to say about chlamydia that it is much easier to avoid than to cure.

Therefore, you should follow the rules of sexual hygiene, which will protect against various sexually transmitted diseases:

Chlamydia: diagnosis and treatment of chlamydia.

Chlamydia overview

Chlamydia are parasites of humans and animals. Because chlamydiae can only exist in the host's cells, scientists first mistook them for viruses. Intracellular life is not a whim, but a necessary condition for the life of a microorganism, since chlamydia themselves are not able to produce energy and are forced to receive it and some nutrients from the host organism.

Chlamydia includes three species that can cause disease in humans: Chlamidia trachomatis, Chlamidia psittici and Chlamidia pheumonia. Due to the specifics of this site, we will focus only on the first type, since the third type causes pneumonia, and the second one affects animals, mainly birds, so if you do not kiss your parrot, it will not threaten you.

Two forms of existence.

Two forms of chlamydia are found in nature, which are essentially just different stages of their life cycle. The so-called Elementary Bodies (ET), which are resistant to non-specific body defenses, enter the human body. EBs adhere to host epithelial cells and are engulfed by them. Intracellular digestion of the microorganism does not occur, and it transforms into the Replicative Form (RF), which produces from 100 to 500 offspring. After all the nutrients in a given cell run out, the RF turns back into ET, and new microbe particles come out to hit neighboring cells.

Chlamydia trachomatis.

C. trachomatis genital infections are the most common sexually transmitted diseases.

This type of chlamydia can cause several diseases. It depends on the so-called serological variant (serovar) of the microorganism. Serovars are distinguished among themselves by a number of features, and all these subtleties are taken into account in the diagnosis.

There are serovars that cause the eye disease trachoma (hence the common name of the species). This disease is very rare in developed countries, but it is a common cause of blindness in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The disease is transmitted through close contact with the sick.

Other serologic variants cause lymphogranuloma venereum. The initial stage of damage to the external genital organs or the vagina is not accompanied by pain, and therefore is often tolerated by patients without treatment. Problems begin in the second stage of the disease with the appearance of buboes, that is, enlarged, inflamed lymph nodes that can ulcerate in the final stage of the disease.

Other serovars of Chlamidia trachomatis can cause conjunctivitis in adults and newborns, as well as childhood pneumonia, when infected with genital organs. Acute conjunctivitis in adults occurs upon contact with secretions from the genitals, which contain microorganisms.

Neonatal conjunctivitis and childhood pneumonia are the result of a fetus passing through the birth canal of a mother who is infected with this type of chlamydia. These forms are treated with erythromycin.

Chlamydia can be transmitted from an infected person to a healthy person through sexual contact, causing non-gonococcal urethritis (inflammation of the urethra), epididymitis (inflammation of the epididymis), endometritis (inflammation of the endometrium of the uterus), salpingitis (inflammation of the fallopian tubes), and cervicitis (inflammation of the cervix).

Non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU).

Non-gonococcal urethritis is diagnosed when a person has all the symptoms of urethritis but does not have gonorrhea. Chlamydia causes 30-40% of NGU cases in heterosexual men, with other cases associated with Ureaplasma urealyticum, Trihomonas vaginalis, and HSV (human herpes simplex virus). Chlamydial urethritis is less serious than gonococcal urethritis, although it is difficult to separate the two forms of the disease in one person. Symptoms include urethral discharge (often whitish and mucoid), dysuria, and urethral itching.

Epididymitis

C. trachomatis is one of the main causes of inflammation of the epididymis, or epidymitis. The main manifestations of this disease are fever, increased sensitivity during examination, swelling, unilateral pain in the scrotum.

Proctitis

C. trachomatis can cause proctitis in homosexual men.

Mucopurulent cervicitis.

Although many women infected with chlamydia do not have any symptoms of the disease, a thorough examination can reveal the presence of CHC in 30-50% of cases. A characteristic feature of this inflammation of the cervix is yellow discharge from the cylindrical epithelium containing neutrophils (blood cells that form the basis of pus). Other signs may be swelling or a tendency of the mucosa to bleed with minor injuries - for example, when collecting material with swabs.

Pelvic inflammatory disease

Chlamydia plays an important role as a cause of salpingitis. Inflammatory diseases occur due to the upward spread of microorganisms from the lower genital tract.

Often, mainly in women, an infectious disease is asymptomatic, without giving cause for concern. But regardless of the presence or absence of symptoms, human infection with microorganisms causes inflammation, which can lead to scarring of the fallopian tubes and infertility in women. Since many women who are infertile due to tubal scarring have antibodies against chlamydia but do not have symptoms of pelvic inflammatory disease, the scarring is thought to be caused by a subclinical tubal infection, the so-called "silent salpingitis".

C. Trachomatis and pregnancy.

Chlamydia during pregnancy has been linked in some studies to preterm birth and postpartum endometritis. Whether these complications are entirely associated with C. trachomatis is not completely clear.

Moreover, chlamydial infection, like gonococcal infection, may be associated with septic arthritis.

How does the body protect itself from chlamydia?

The human body is always trying to protect itself from unwanted invasion by microorganisms that do not belong to its normal microflora. Another thing is that these protections are not always effective and safe. It also happens that the body in the fight against microbes harms itself. For example, there is a strong association between the occurrence of cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis and Chlamydia pneumonia infection. An immune response directed against Chlamidia trachomatis can lead to gradual scarring and infertility.

Chlamydia diagnostics

Most diseases caused by chlamydia can be diagnosed using their main clinical manifestations, but there are also special laboratory developments, such as: