Can chlamydia be undetected for 20 years?

Symptoms can occur within 2-14 days after infection. However, a person may have chlamydia for months, or even years, without knowing it.

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Can chlamydia show up 20 years later?

Although some symptoms can appear within weeks of contact, there have been reports of chlamydia remaining dormant for over twenty years. If you have had recent sexual contact and wonder about chlamydia infections, don't hesitate to test.

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Can you have chlamydia for 20 years and not know it?

“You could have chlamydia for years and not know it,” Ravi says. “That's one of the scariest parts about it-people will say 'I haven't had sex in a long time' and I have to explain that they won't always have symptoms.”

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Can you have chlamydia for 25 years and not know it?

Most people who have chlamydia don't know it. Often the disease has no symptoms. You can pass chlamydia to others without knowing it.

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Can chlamydia lie dormant for 30 years?

Chlamydia can lie dormant for months or years and it is often detected through screening and routine sexual health testing. If symptoms do develop, it usually takes 1-3 weeks after exposure to notice signs.

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How I Got Chlamydia

15 related questions found

Can chlamydia be dormant for 14 years?

However, a person may have chlamydia for months, or even years, without knowing it.

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What is late stage chlamydia?

Late-stage chlamydia refers to an infection that has spread to other parts of the body. For example, it may have spread to the cervix (cervicitis), testicular tubes (epididymitis), eyes (conjunctivitis), or throat (pharyngitis), causing inflammation and pain.

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How did I get chlamydia and my partner didn t?

As most people do not have symptoms, it is possible the person (who tested positive) could have had chlamydia/gonorrhea from a previous relationship, and has not passed it to their partner yet. It is never 100% that you will pass an STI when you have sex.

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How long can chlamydia be in your body without you knowing?

In 2018 alone, 49% of all new diagnoses of STDs were Chlamydia. A possible reason for this is that the Chlamydia can lay dormant for many years without the carrier knowing.

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Can chlamydia lay dormant in the body?

Yes, chlamydia can lie dormant in the body, causing a low-grade infection without symptoms.

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Can chlamydia lie dormant and test negative?

This is because the bacteria needs enough time to multiply within your body in order for it to reach a detectable level when taking a chlamydia test. For chlamydia this is often 14 days. If you test before that 14 days is over, you may test negative, but you could still pass the bacteria on following your test.

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What happens when chlamydia goes untreated for years?

Chlamydia can be cured with antibiotics from a health care provider. However, if chlamydia is left untreated, it can cause permanent damage. Your risk of getting other STIs, like gonorrhea or HIV, increases. In males, untreated chlamydia can lead to sterility (inability to make sperm).

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Can you have chlamydia after 10 years?

How long can you have chlamydia for? An untreated chlamydia infection can persist for several years. Although this goes for both men and women, it is believed that men are less likely to carry the bacteria for several years. If you remain infected for a long time you have an increased risk of complications.

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Can chlamydia live in your gut?

Overall, the data in humans indicating that chlamydiae can indeed establish an infection in the lower GI tract are convincing. Whether or not the infection persists in the GI tract for long periods of time as in other mammals is suggested by some studies but has clearly not been confirmed in humans.

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Can chlamydia come back after 15 years?

Apparently the disease can live inside your gut, and reinfect you out of the blue. Apparently doctors have known that chlamydia can reappear in cured patients for about 80 years, but they've been stumped as to how exactly it happens.

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What's the longest it can take for chlamydia to show up?

Share on Pinterest It may take weeks or even months for a person to notice any symptoms of chlamydia. Symptoms of chlamydia may appear in the vulva 1–3 weeks after a person comes into contact with the infection. However, in some cases, it can be months afterward.

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How can you tell if a man has chlamydia?

Chlamydia symptoms in men
  • Small amounts of clear or cloudy discharge from the tip of your penis.
  • Painful urination.
  • Burning and itching around the opening of your penis.
  • Pain and swelling around your testicles.

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Can chlamydia form without cheating?

Can you develop a chlamydia infection on your own? Fortunately, you can't contract chlamydia on your own because it spreads through sexual contact with other people. Chlamydia bacteria does, however, thrive in vaginal fluid, semen, and pre-ejaculate (the fluids that the penis may release before sexual climax).

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Can chlamydia come without cheating?

How did I get chlamydia if I didn't cheat? You can get chlamydia if your partner had vaginal, oral or anal sex with someone who was infected and then had sex with you.

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Why am I positive for chlamydia but my partner isn t?

If one partner tests positive for chlamydia and the other does not, there are a few possible explanations: The positive test result could be incorrect. The negative test result could be incorrect. The chlamydia might not have transmitted from the person to their partner.

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Can dormant chlamydia be cured?

Yes. Chlamydia can be cured by taking a course of antibiotics prescribed by your doctor. You must take the antibiotics as directed and avoid having sex during treatment to cure the chlamydia infection completely.

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What are 5 symptoms of chlamydia?

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.

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Will chlamydia show up in a urine culture?

A urinalysis can give clues to the presence of sexually transmitted infections. A positive dipstick for leukocyte esterase or increased numbers of white blood cells in the microscopic exam is suggestive of chlamydia or gonoccocal infection.

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Can urine tests miss chlamydia?

Detecting chlamydia or gonorrhea proved almost 4 times more likely when testing extragenital sites than when testing only urine (incidence rate ratio 3.67, 95% confidence interval 1.26 to 10.7). Testing only urine samples would have missed all gonorrhea infections and 75% of chlamydia infections.

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Does chlamydia show up in blood work?

While chlamydia isn't a bloodborne disease, blood tests can determine whether you have chlamydia antibodies, which can reveal current or past chlamydia infections. A penile or vaginal swab is another method your healthcare provider may use to test for STIs.

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