Читать книгу Getting Pregnant For Dummies - Sharon Perkins - Страница 88

Chlamydia is the most reported sexually transmitted infection in the United States — meaning we more often test for it than the other infections. The bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis is responsible for the infection. Both men and women can be infected, and both male and female fertility can be damaged. Chlamydia is easily tested by swabbing the penis or vagina and sending the swab to a lab for testing. A new test using urine is also being developed. Chlamydia is easily treated with antibiotics.

Here are some facts about the disease:

 About 2 million new cases of chlamydia are diagnosed every year.

 Almost two-thirds of new chlamydia infections occur in 14- to 24-year-olds.

 Of those women who develop pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), 30 percent will have chlamydia. Each occurrence of PID reduces the chance of achieving a pregnancy by 25 percent due to the damage the infection does to the fallopian tubes.

 Women with PID are seven to ten times more likely to have an ectopic pregnancy, a pregnancy that grows outside the uterus, usually in the tubes. (For more about ectopic pregnancies, see Chapter 13.)

 Most women (75 percent) have no symptoms of infection; symptoms include lower abdominal pain, burning with urination, and vaginal irritation.

 Twenty-five percent of men have no symptoms from chlamydia; the rest may have a discharge from the urethra, or pain and burning on urination.

 Men with untreated chlamydia can develop epididymitis, an infection in the testicles, where sperm are developed. This condition can lead to low sperm counts.

 Each year, 100,000 women become infertile from chlamydia. With a first episode of PID from chlamydia, 12 percent of women become infertile; a second episode of PID increases infertility to 40 percent. Eighty percent of women who have had PID from chlamydia three or more times are infertile.

 Chlamydia is largely a silent disease. Only about 10 percent of men become symptomatic, and anywhere from 5–30 percent of women become symptomatic.

It is important to know that symptoms of a chlamydia infection, if any, may not appear until weeks after the person becomes infected. Diagnosis is made using vaginal swabs (for a woman) and penile swabs (for a man).

Chlamydia is treated with oral antibiotics: either a single dose of azithromycin or a seven-day course of doxycycline.

Having been treated once does not mean you can’t get reinfected — in fact reinfection is common. Annual testing for all sexually active women and men is recommended.

Untreated chlamydia when you’re pregnant can lead to miscarriage, preterm labor, or chlamydial conjunctivitis (eye infections) or chlamydial pneumonia (respiratory infections) in the child. Pregnant women with untreated chlamydia are also at a much higher risk for stillbirth.