On the other hand, if you don't get tested or don't see a healthcare provider for treatment, chlamydia can live in the body for weeks, months, or even years without being detected. This can lead to long-term complications, including infertility.
Without medical intervention, a chlamydia infection can persist for years if gone unnoticed [1]. Fortunately, once diagnosed, a healthcare provider can provide patients with the right medication to treat the sexually transmitted infection (STI).
If left untreated, chlamydia can cause pelvic inflammatory disease in women, which can lead to chronic pain and infertility. In men, untreated chlamydia can cause pain and swelling in one or both testicles. If detected early, chlamydia may be treated with a single dose of antibiotics.
How long does chlamydia last? With treatment, chlamydia should go away within a week or two, however, the test may remain positive for 4 weeks after treatment. It's important to take all antibiotics to fight the infection. Don't have sex during treatment, or you could get reinfected.
Can chlamydia go away without treatment? It can, but it can take a long time. If you delay seeking treatment you risk the infection causing long-term damage and you may still be able to pass the infection on to someone else.
It can take from weeks to two years. Chlamydia can lead to infertility in women due to the amount of scarring it causes to their internal reproductive organs. If you have had unprotected sex and not had a chlamydia test, you should get tested before trying to start a family.
What are the symptoms? Symptoms can occur within 2-14 days after infection. However, a person may have chlamydia for months, or even years, without knowing it.
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.
Chlamydia can be easily treated, however if it goes left untreated, it can cause infertility (you may not be able to babies).
Although chlamydia is highly contagious, it does not always transmit to a person's sexual partners. It is also possible to have a false-negative test result. Having more frequent sex with a partner who has chlamydia may increase a person's risk of contracting it.
Chlamydia is very common: it's the most frequently reported infectious disease in Australia, and nearly 97,000 men and women are diagnosed with it each year. If you're sexually active and under 30 years of age, you are at the highest risk of contracting chlamydia.
If a woman does not receive treatment, chlamydia can spread into the uterus or fallopian tubes, causing PID. Symptomatic PID occurs in about 10-15% of women who do not receive treatment. However, chlamydia can also cause subclinical inflammation of the upper genital tract (“subclinical PID”).
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).
In this presentation, chlamydial infection will be referred to as chlamydia. All incurable STDs are viral. The most dangerous viral STD is human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which leads to AIDS. Other incurable viral STDs include human papilloma virus (HPV), hepatitis B and genital herpes.
Worst Case Scenario: If left untreated, chlamydia can cause an increased risk of contracting HIV, urethritis and/or infertility in men, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), and infertility, miscarriage, and/or pre-term labor in women.
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.
Most women who have had chlamydia won't have any difficulties conceiving that are related to the infection. There may be a greater chance of chlamydia affecting fertility if you have repeated infections or if it goes untreated and causes a condition called Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID).
Chlamydia treatment may fail twice due to bacterial resistance to antibiotics, issues with the absorption of medication into the body, or not following the full course of antibiotics. People may also have a repeat infection rather than treatment failure.
In the later stages of Gonorrhea and Chlamydia, people often complain about being extremely tired. Along with these infections, fatigue can also be caused by Hepatitis A, B, or C. Associating fatigue with having a busy lifestyle is not a good idea as it can be a symptom of a Sexually Transmitted Disease.
If your partner has gonorrhea or chlamydia, is it possible to have unprotected sex and not get these infections? While it is possible to have vaginal, oral, or anal sex with an infected partner and not get infected, it's unlikely.
Chlamydia is unique among bacteria, having an infectious cycle and two developmental forms. These include the infectious form called the elementary body (EB) and the reticulate body (RB). The EB is metabolically inactive and is taken up by host cells.
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.