Chlamydia
Chlamydia
Make This Episode Your Last
Chlamydia is sort of like the Stealth Bomber," says Judith N. Wasserheit, M.D., director of the Division of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Prevention of the National Center for HIV/STD and TB Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "It comes along, and in most women, it has no symptoms. Many women don't know they have had the infection until they decide that they want to get pregnant and they can't--when they're diagnosed as infertile."
Chlamydia is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the United States, with some four million new cases of infection a year. It is caused by chlamydia trachomatis, a unique species of bacteria transmitted by sexual intercourse. Chlamydia infects cells along the endocervix, the center of the passageway between the uterus and the vagina. It doesn't affect cells in the vagina itself. It can, however, also infect cells in the urethra (leading to the bladder) or the rectum, says Kimberly A. Workowski, M.D., assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University in Atlanta.
Following its initial infection in the lower genital tract, chlamydia can advance to the upper reproductive tract if untreated. There it can lead to infertility when infection scars and blocks the fallopian tubes, where eggs and sperm are normally destined to mate. Ectopic pregnancies, or pregnancies outside the uterus--mostly in the fallopian tubes--can also result.
PERSONAL TACTICS TO SPEED HEALING
Fortunately, "it is possible to eradicate STDs like chlamydia," says Willa Brown, M.D., director of Personal Health Services at the Howard County Health Department in Columbia, Maryland. Early screening, prompt treatment of patient and partner with antibiotics and smart sex all play a part. Here's what she and other experts say that you can do to recover from chlamydia.
Take all your medication. Your physician may give you antibiotics--either a single dose of azithromycin (Zithromax) or a seven-day course of doxycycline (Vibramycin). Take doxycycline right after meals. This antibiotic can irritate your stomach, says Dr. Brown, so take it on a full stomach with a large glass of water.
It takes a few days for your body to absorb either drug. Antibiotics get your recovery rolling, but they don't knock out infection right away, says Dr. Wasserheit. "The medicine itself doesn't usually eradicate the infection. What it does is kill off enough of the bugs or slow them down enough so that your immune response can then do the rest of the work."
Protect yourself in the sun. "Doxycycline is a tetracycline drug that can increase sensitivity to the sun," says Barbara A. Majeroni, M.D., assistant professor and director of continuing medical education in the Department of Family Medicine at State University of New York at Buffalo. When you're heading outdoors, protect your skin with sunscreen with maximum sun protection factor (SPF), she advises. Shoot for an SPF of 15 or higher. Wear a hat and stay out of direct sunlight.
When To See A Doctor
More than 95 percent of patients will be cured with antibiotics, but early diagnosis of chlamydia is crucial to effective treatment. You may have symptoms such as abnormal vaginal discharge, frequent urination and burning in your urethra or vagina, dull pelvic pain, painful intercourse, bleeding between menstrual periods or heavier periods. But as many as 80 percent of women have no symptoms. Your doctor may discover chlamydia during your annual gynecological exam, but testing for it is not part of the usual routine. "A woman needs to prompt her health care provider to test for chlamydia," says Judith N. Wasserheit, M.D., director of the Division of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Prevention of the National Center for HIV/STD and TB Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Be sure to ask for a test if you have had more than one sexual partner in the past three months, or if your partner has had more than one partner. Women doctors say that some women are more comfortable going to a county health clinic or a Planned Parenthood center for testing instead of to their regular physicians.
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Skip sex until a week after treatment. "We usually encourage people to wait until they are free of symptoms and they and their sex partners have completed medication before they have intercourse," says Dr. Wasserheit. If your partner starts treatment after you do, wait until after he completes treatment to be reasonably sure that he is no longer infected, either.
Absolutely don't douche. "There's no reason to douche at all, ever," says Dr. Workowski. Not only does douching have no effect on relieving or preventing chlamydia, but, she says, "it can also have the detrimental effect of pushing the infection up further into your urogenital tract," where it can do damage to your reproductive system.
Practice monogamy. Short of swearing off sex, cultivating a mutually monogamous lifetime relationship offers good protection against chlamydia and other STDs, says Dr. Majeroni, because you and your partner will not be bringing infections from others into your bedroom.
