Oral chlamydia is a serious infection because, while often symptomless, it can lead to severe dental issues like gum disease, tooth loss, and pain, and significantly increases your risk of contracting other STIs like HIV. Untreated oral chlamydia can also spread to other parts of the body (eyes, lungs) or to sexual partners, causing complications such as conjunctivitis or pneumonia, and in women, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Prompt antibiotic treatment is crucial to prevent these serious health problems.
Transmission is not known to occur from mouth-to-vagina and mouth to anus contact. Even a woman who has not had anal sex can get chlamydia in the anus or rectum if bacteria are spread from the vaginal area, such as when wiping with toilet paper.
Oral chlamydia is much less common than genital chlamydia. If you get oral chlamydia, you might have some soreness and redness in your throat or mouth. Most people with oral chlamydia don't have any symptoms — that's why it's so important to get tested for STDs regularly.
In some cases, chlamydia causes no symptoms. But if chlamydia is left untreated, it can live in the body for months or years. The infection will not go away on its own. However, prompt antibiotic treatment may help the infection clear up within 2-4 weeks.
Symptoms of oral Chlamydia include swelling, redness, sore throat, constant cough and difficulty swallowing. It is important to know however that many people with oral Chlamydia do not have any of these symptoms. This makes it really difficult to detect. Symptoms of oral Chlamydia differ from genital Chlamydia.
Once a person has chlamydia, they can spread it to their partners through sexual intercourse, anal sex or oral sex. Infections can also occur when a person with chlamydia shares sex toys with their partners.
The prevalence of pharyngeal chlamydia among men and women is relatively low (about 1%–3%) [1, 3–5], and approximately 35%–50% of individuals spontaneously clear their infection in the time between screening and treatment [6–8].
You can collect a sample from your throat to test for chlamydia and gonorrhea. You can collect the sample in the bathroom at the clinic.
Chlamydia is treated with antibiotics. This may be a single dose, or tablets you take for 7 to 14 days. Sometimes you may start treatment before the test results come back. You may need to be tested again after treatment to check you no longer have chlamydia.
If you have chlamydia in your mouth, you may experience visual symptoms such as: Sores in the mouth that don't heal. Sores and blisters on the lips and mouth. Swollen lymph nodes.
Symptoms of Oral STDs
Gonorrhea, and less commonly, chlamydia, are also present in saliva and can be spread via kissing or oral to oral contact, as well as oral to genital and genital to genital contact. Importantly, all of these organisms can cause asymptomatic infection so they can spread before the person is aware they are infected.
Some STIs are more likely to be transmitted during oral sex than others, including:
Household plastic wrap, a dental dam, or a latex condom cut-up and opened flat can reduce the risk of transmission during mouth-to-vulva/vagina or oral-anal (rimming) contact. It is important that you talk to your partner as soon as possible so she or he can get treatment.
You can get gonorrhea by having vaginal, anal, or oral sex with someone who has it. However, oral gonorrhea is less common than genital gonorrhea. If you get oral gonorrhea, you might have an itchy or sore throat that doesn't go away. You may also notice that you have trouble swallowing.
Conclusions: A 3-day course of doxycycline appears to be as effective as a 7-day course of doxycycline for the treatment of uncomplicated chlamydia cervicitis.
While symptoms of chlamydia in the throat can take 1–3 weeks to appear after transmission, strep throat symptoms can develop within 2–5 days . The best way to tell the difference is with medical testing. A doctor can take a fluid sample and send it to a laboratory to confirm the diagnosis.
There is no reliable blood test that can detect the presence of chlamydia or gonorrhea, which means samples must be taken from the parts of your body used when you have sex. Tell your provider about every part of your body that may have come in contact with chlamydia, gonorrhea, or any other STD/STI.
Sore throat: This is one of the most common symptoms and tends to be a mild discomfort. Pain while swallowing: Some people may experience pain or discomfort while swallowing, similar to strep throat. Cough: A persistent cough can also be a symptom of oral Chlamydia.
As well as increasing a person's risk of contracting other STDs, including HIV, untreated chlamydia can result in a number of other complications, these include: Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) in women. Epididymitis in men. Prostate gland infection.
The most common symptom is a sore throat. Accordingly, it's not uncommon for people with throat chlamydia to mistake the infection for other types of conditions, such as allergies, strep throat, flu, colds and/or acid reflux.
Chlamydia is usually treated with the antibiotic doxycycline 100mg taken twice daily for 7 days. There is an alternative treatment for patients who are intolerant/allergic to doxycycline: azithromycin 1g as a single dose followed by 500mg daily for 2 days.
STD transmission through saliva alone is relatively uncommon. Saliva can carry certain viruses, such as herpes simplex virus and cytomegalovirus, yet the risk of transmitting more serious infections like HIV via kissing is exceedingly rare.
If your treatment is a single dose of antibiotics, wait at least 7 days after you take the dose before you have sex. Even if you use a condom, you and your partner may pass the infection back and forth. Make sure to tell your sex partner or partners that you have chlamydia.