What is chlamydia?
Chlamydia is an STD that is caused by bacteria called CHLAMYDIA TRACHOMATIS.

How many people have chlamydia?
Chlamydia is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases. Two million Americans are currently infected with Chlamydia, and three million more will acquire the infection this year. Chlamydia is highest in young people. In fact, six percent of girls under 18 years of age tested in family planning clinics are infected with chlamydia, and 10 percent of young female United States Army recruits have chlamydia.

How does someone get chlamydia?
Chlamydia is primarily transmitted through sexual activity. It can also be passed from pregnant women to their newborn infants during childbirth. Other types of chlamydial infections exist, but they are acquired by non-sexual activities.

What are the symptoms?
Typical symptoms include a vaginal or penis discharge, burning with urination, pelvic pain in women, and swelling and tenderness of the scrotum in men (epididymitis). When a woman has vaginal intercourse with an infected man, the infection may spread to the uterus (endometritis) and fallopian tubes (salpingitis).

When this spread occurs, the condition is called pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). PID may cause few symptoms and go unrecognized, or PID may be a severe, life-threatening infection. Common symptoms of PID include pelvic and abdominal pain, fever and abnormal vaginal bleeding. When abdominal tenderness is present, PID may be confused with other severe abdominal conditions like appendicitis or tubal pregnancy.

How does someone find out s(he) has chlamydia?
Many people with chlamydia infections do not know they are infected. In fact, as many as 85 percent of women and 40 percent of men who are infected have no symptoms. Doctors can screen for and diagnose chlamydia.

How is chlamydia treated?
Chlamydia infections in both men and women are typically treated with oral antibiotics. Severe PID may require hospitalization and treatment with antibiotics through an IV. Treatment of infected pregnant women prevents infection of the newborn. In addition, newborn infants routinely receive antibiotic eye drops/ointment to prevent eye infection.

What are some of the long-term effects of chlamydia?
The most serious complication of chlamydial infection is PID. PID can damage the fallopian tubes and result in tubal scarring and infertility. In fact, PID causes over 25 percent of the infertility in women pursuing in vitro fertilization in the United States. Tubal scarring can also increase the risks for developing a subsequent tubal pregnancy.

How can teens avoid getting chlamydia?
Condoms probably reduce the risk of chlamydia transmission among sexually active people. Studies of condoms in actual use, however, show that condoms do not consistently prevent chlamydia infection.

Abstinence from sexual activity - including oral sex - or lifetime faithfulness to one uninfected partner is the only certain way for your teen to avoid being infected sexually. If your teen has already been sexually active, he or she needs to be tested for STDs.

Learn about other common STDs...

Back to the FACTS ABOUT TEEN SEX page.

Information adapted from The Medical Institute for Sexual Health web site.
www.medinstitute.org