Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted disease. It is caused by bacteria called Chlamydia trachomatis. It can infect both men and women. Women can get chlamydia in the cervix, rectum, or throat. Men can get chlamydia in the urethra (inside the penis), rectum, or throat.
How do you get chlamydia?
You can get chlamydia during oral, vaginal, or anal sex with someone who has the infection. A woman can also pass chlamydia to her baby during childbirth.
If you've had chlamydia and were treated in the past, you can get re-infected if you have unprotected sex with someone who has it.
Who is at risk of getting chlamydia?
Chlamydia is more common in young people, especially young women. You are more likely to get it if you don't consistently use a condom, or if you have multiple partners.
What are the symptoms of chlamydia?
Chlamydia doesn't usually cause any symptoms. So you may not realize that you have it. People with chlamydia who have no symptoms can still pass the disease to others. If you do have symptoms, they may not appear until several weeks after you have sex with an infected partner.
Symptoms in women include
· Abnormal vaginal discharge, which may have a strong smell
· A burning sensation when urinating
· Pain during intercourse
If the infection spreads, you might get lower abdominal pain, pain during sex, nausea, or fever.
Symptoms in men include
· Discharge from your penis
· A burning sensation when urinating
· Burning or itching around the opening of your penis
· Pain and swelling in one or both testicles (although this is less common)
If the chlamydia infects the rectum (in men or women), it can cause rectal pain, discharge, and/or bleeding.
How do I know if I have chlamydia?
There are lab tests to diagnose chlamydia. Your health care provider may ask you to provide a urine sample. For women, providers sometimes use (or ask you to use) a cotton swab to get a sample from your vagina to test for chlamydia.
Another, more convenient and easy way of testing for Chlamydia is using test kit at home. There are some issue when it comes to its accuracy, but there are some test kit that are proven accurate such as Fujibio Chlamydia Rapid Test kit.
Fujibio Chlamydia Rapid Test Kit intended for in vitro diagnostic use in the rapid, qualitative detection of Chlamydia trachomatis directly from female endocervical swab and male urethral swab, in addition to ocular specimens from symptomatic patients. The test is intended for use as an aid in the diagnosis of Chlamydia infections.
The one step Chlamydia test is a rapid qualitative immunoassay based on the immunochromatographic principle. (In the assay procedure, a clinical specimen is obtained and place into an extraction tube containing extraction solution. A. after two minutes. Extraction Solution B is added to the tube. 3 drops (approximately 150 ul) of extracted samples is added to the sample well).
The membrane is pre-coated with anti-genus specific lipopolysaccharide (LPS) monoclonal antibody on the test band (T) region and goat anti-mouse antibody on the control band (C) region. During testing, the sample is allowed to react with the colloidal gold particles which have been coated with monoclonal anti-chlamydia antibody, and then migrates laterally across the membrane by capillary action .
If the sample contains Chlamydia antigen , a colored band with a specific anti-body chlamydia antibody-mydia colloidal gold particle complex will form on the membrane in the test band (T) region. If Chlamydia antigen is not present, a pink line will only form on control band (C) region. To serve as a procedural control, a colored band at the control band (C) region will always appear regardless of the presence of Chlamydia antigen.
SPECIMEN COLLECTION AND HANDLING
The quality of specimen obtained is of extreme importance. Detection of Chlamydia requires a vigorous and through collection technique which provides cellular material rather than just body fluids.
For Female endocervical specimens:
- Before specimen collection, use a swab or cotton ball to remove excess mucus from the endocervical area and discard.
- Use the swab provided with the kit or any shafted swabs with rayon of Dacron tips. The swab should be interested into the endocervical canal past the squamocolumnar junction, until most of the tip is no longer visible. This will permit acquisition of columnar or cuboidal epithelial cells which are the main reservoir of Chlamydia organism. Firmly rotate the swab for 15-20 second and withdraw without contamination of exocervical or vaginal cells.
- Alternative endocervical specimens can be collected with a cytology brush (Not provided. Caution: do not use cytology brushes with pregnant patients). Insert the cytology brush into the endocervical canal past the squamocolumnar junction. Leave in place two to three seconds. Rotate the cytology brush two full turns , and then withdraw the brush without touching any vaginal surface.
- Place the swab in the extraction tube, if the test is to be conducted immediately.
For Male Urethral Specimens:
- Use standard wire-shafted fiber-tripped swabs(not provided) for urethral specimen collection.
- Instruct the patient not to urinate at least one hour prior to specimen collection.
- Insert the swab into the urethra about 2-4cm, rotate for 3-5 seconds and withdraw it.
- Place the swab to the extraction tube , if the test is to be conducted immediately.
- Do not place the swab in any transport device containing medium since transport medium inferences with the assay.
- If immediate testing is not possible, the patient sample should be placed in a dry transport tube for storage or transport. The swabs maybe stored for 4 hours at room temperature (10-30) or 24 hours at refrigerated (4-8). Do not freeze. All specimens should be allowed to reach a room temperature of 10-30 before testing.
TEST PROCEDURE
Review ‘specimen collection’ instructions. Do not open pouches until ready to perform the assay. Test reagents and specimen should be brought to room temperature before testing.
To avoid cross contamination, do not allow the tip of the reagent bottle to come in contact with sample swabs of extraction tubes.
A. Specimens and control extraction:
A1. Preperation of endocervical or urethral swab specimens;
- Place a new extraction tube in the designated area of the workstation. Add 6 drops of extraction solution A to extraction tube.
- Immerse the patient’s swab into the extraction tube, and extracts 2 minutes at room temperature. During extraction, use a circular motion to roll the swab against the side of the extraction tube so that the liquid is expressed from the swab and reabsorbed.
- At the end of the extraction time, add 6 drops of solution B. squeeze the swab firmly against the tube to expel as much liquid as possible from the swab. Discard the following guidelines for handling infectious agents.
- The extracted specimen can remain at room temperature for 60 minutes without affecting the result of the Chlamydia test.
A2. Preparation of positive and negative controls:
- Place a new extraction tube in the designated area of the workstation. Add 6 drops of extraction solution A to extraction tube.
- Add two drops of the positive or negative control solution to a sterile Dacron swab. Allow the swab to be absorbed into the swab.
- Immerse the swab into the extraction tube, and extract 2 minutes at room temperature. During extraction, use a circular motion to roll the swab against the side of the extraction tube so that the liquid is expelled from the swab and reabsorbed.
- At the end of the extraction time, add 6 drops of extraction Solution B. squeeze the swab firmly against the tube to expel as much liquid as possible from the swab. Discard the swab following guidelines for handling infectious agents.
B. Test Procedure:
- Follow instructions for specimen collections and extraction.
- Remove the antigen test device from its protective pouch and place it on a clean, dry, and level surface. Label the device with patient or control identification.
- Place the cap of the extraction tube. Add 3 drops (approximately 150 ul) of extracted sample from extraction tube to the sample well.
- Wait for test band (S) to appear.the test results should be read in 10 minutes after adding the extracted specimen to the sample well. Depending on the amount of Chlamydia antigen organisms on the swab, positive result maybe visible as soon as 1 minute, however to confirm a negative result the complete reaction time of 15 minutes if required. Do not interpret result after 15 minutes.
Invalid:
No line appears in the control region. Under no circumstances should a positive sample be identified until the control line (C) forms in the viewing area. If the control line does not form, the test result is inconclusive and the assay should be repeated.
What are the complications of chlamydia?
In women, an untreated infection can spread to your uterus and fallopian tubes, causing pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). PID can cause permanent damage to your reproductive system. This can lead to long-term pelvic pain, infertility, and ectopic pregnancy. Women who have had chlamydia infections more than once are at higher risk of serious reproductive health complications.
Men often don't have health problems from chlamydia. Sometimes it can infect the epididymis (the tube that carries sperm). This can cause pain, fever, and, rarely, infertility.
Both men and women can develop reactive arthritis because of a chlamydia infection. Reactive arthritis is a type of arthritis that happens as a "reaction" to an infection in the body.
Babies born to infected mothers can get eye infections and pneumonia from chlamydia. It may also make it more likely for your baby to be born too early.
Untreated chlamydia may also increase your chances of getting or giving HIV/AIDS.
What are the treatments for chlamydia?
Antibiotics will cure the infection. You may get a one-time dose of the antibiotics, or you may need to take medicine every day for 7 days. Antibiotics cannot repair any permanent damage that the disease has caused.
To prevent spreading the disease to your partner, you should not have sex until the infection has cleared up. If you got a one-time dose of antibiotics, you should wait 7 days after taking the medicine to have sex again. If you have to take medicine every day for 7 days, you should not have sex again until you have finished taking all of the doses of your medicine.
It is common to get a repeat infection, so you should get tested again about three months after treatment.
Antibiotics will cure the infection. You may get a one-time dose of the antibiotics, or you may need to take medicine every day for 7 days. Antibiotics cannot repair any permanent damage that the disease has caused.
To prevent spreading the disease to your partner, you should not have sex until the infection has cleared up. If you got a one-time dose of antibiotics, you should wait 7 days after taking the medicine to have sex again. If you have to take medicine every day for 7 days, you should not have sex again until you have finished taking all of the doses of your medicine.
It is common to get a repeat infection, so you should get tested again about three months after treatment.
Can I prevent chlamydia?
The only sure way to prevent chlamydia is to not have vaginal, anal, or oral sex.
Correct usage of latex condoms greatly reduces, but does not eliminate, the risk of catching or spreading chlamydia.
