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Chlamydia

Chlamydia is the most common, curable sexually transmitted infection (STI) in Britain. Approximately 5-10% of sexually active women under 24 and men between 20-24 may be currently infected with Chlamydia.

If you are concerned about your sexual health or want a confidential consultation, please contact our doctor at samedaydoctor, Canary Wharf.

Symptoms of chlamydia

Chlamydia often has no symptoms (asymptomatic) in both men and women, so is easily missed. Infection is primarily through penetrative sexual intercourse, however you can also get the infection in the eye, or throat through oral sex. If untreated, infection may persist or resolve spontaneously. Two thirds of sexual partners of chlamydia-positive individuals are also positive, so it is very important to get partners tested and treated otherwise the infection will be passed on again.

Most common symptoms in women:

  • Asymptomatic in approximately 70%
  • Bleeding after sex
  • Inter-menstrual bleeding
  • Lower abdominal pain
  • Purulent vaginal discharge
  • Contact bleeding
  • Dysuria (painful urination)

Most common symptoms in men:

  • Asymptomatic in over 50%
  • Urethral discharge
  • Dysuria

The severity of the following two symptoms is variable and may be so mild as to be unnoticed by the patient.

  • Rectal infections: usually asymptomatic, but may cause anal discharge and anorectal discomfort (proctitis)
  • Throat infections: throat infections are asymptomatic and less common

Risk factors

  • Age under 25 years
  • A new sexual partner
  • More than one sexual partner in the past year
  • A lack of consistent use of condoms

Diagnosis

At samedaydoctor we can do a simple urine test in both men and women to screen for chlamydia. In women we prefer to do swabs, as this is slightly more effective than urine testing, although if this puts you off testing it is still better to screen doing a urine sample, then not at all. Results are usually available within 24-48 hours.

Treatment

  • Treatment consists of a one off dose of antibiotics that should get rid of the infection. We are able to dispense the correct medication on site
  • Contacts need to be treated and preferably screened
If you have several different partners we recommend regular chlamydia testing because as mentioned having no symptoms doesn’t necessarily mean you are not infected.

Complications

Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) with a significant proportion of these cases being asymptomatic or having mild, atypical symptoms.

PID can result in infertility, ectopic pregnancy and chronic pelvic pain.

Other complications include Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndrome (perihepatitis), transmission to neonate (neonatal conjunctivitis, pneumonia), epididymo-orchitis, adult conjunctivitis and sexually acquired reactive arthritis/Reiter’s syndrome (more common in men).

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