Chlamydia
Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted bacterial infection. Learn more about testing, prevention, and treatment for chlamydia.
What is chlamydia?
Chlamydia is a bacterial infection spread through sexual contact. It commonly appears in the throat, anus, penis, or vagina. If chlamydia goes untreated, it can lead to serious health complications. In men and people assigned male at birth (AMAB), it can lead to prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate gland) and epididymitis (inflammation of a tube at the back of the testicle that carries sperm). In women and people assigned female at birth (AFAB), chlamydia can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, decrease fertility, and complicate pregnancy.
How is chlamydia spread?
Chlamydia can be spread through anal, oral, or vaginal sex—as well as contact that doesn’t involve penetration.
What are the symptoms of chlamydia?
Most people who have chlamydia don’t show any symptoms—but if they do, the symptoms can appear either very quickly or within a few weeks.
It’s important to know that you don’t need to show symptoms to pass on chlamydia. You also don’t need to show symptoms for a health care provider to test for chlamydia. The incubation period, or the time between exposure and when symptoms first appear, is 7 to 21 days.
Symptoms of chlamydia are similar to symptoms for gonorrhea, another bacterial infection. They include:
- A burning sensation when you pee
- Abnormal and/or discolored discharge from the penis or vagina
- A sore throat after performing oral sex
- Abnormal discharge, pain, and/or bleeding in the rectum
- Abnormal swelling in the testicles and/or scrotum
- Pain while ejaculating
If you experience any of these symptoms, see your health care provider right away to get tested and treated.
When should I get tested for chlamydia?
Are you sexually active? STIs are a risk at any age if you’re sexually active with more than one partner, or if you and your partners haven’t been tested regularly. Chlamydia and gonorrhea testing is often performed together, since symptoms are similar and people who have one infection often test positive for the other. Testing for chlamydia can be performed as soon as you think you’ve been exposed, but the most accurate test results are generally two to three weeks after exposure. Learn more about testing for STIs.
How do I get tested for chlamydia?
There is no reliable blood test that can detect the presence of chlamydia, which means samples must be taken from the parts of your body used when you have sex. Three-site testing is a testing method for chlamydia that uses swab samples taken from your throat, penis, and anus. When you go for testing, you want to be sure to tell your provider about every part of your body that may have come in contact with chlamydia or any other STI. If you had oral sex, make sure your doctor swabs your throat. If you bottomed for anal sex, that means a swab of your anus—and so on. Although there is a swab test for the penis, your doctor will most likely test a sample of urine. However, urine tests can’t detect infection of chlamydia or gonorrhea in your throat or anus.
While chlamydia is curable, it’s possible to get re-infected. That’s why it’s a good idea to get tested for these and other STIs every three to six months, especially if you have multiple partners or don’t always use condoms.
What is the treatment for chlamydia?
If you test positive for chlamydia, you will be prescribed antibiotics to cure the infection. However, antibiotics will not prevent you from getting gonorrhea or another other STI again. It’s possible that you—and your sex partners—can get reinfected and pass the STI to others.
How can I prevent chlamydia?
The only proven way to prevent getting chlamydia is to abstain from any kind of sexual activity. Fortunately, there are simple steps you can take to reduce your risk of getting or passing on chlamydia and other STIs. If you’ve had condomless sex, DoxyPEP can help prevent STIs like chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis if taken soon after sex.
I tested positive for chlamydia. What should I do next?
Follow your health care provider’s instructions and take your medications as prescribed. You’ll also want to take steps to prevent passing your STI to any sex partners. Learn more about what you can do after a positive STI test result.
If you’ve been diagnosed with chlamydia, there’s an easy way to get treatment for your partners. It’s called Expedited Partner Therapy (EPT) and it allows your provider to prescribe medication for people you’ve had sex with in the last 60 days—without the need of examining your partner(s). Even if your partner is tested for chlamydia, they could have what’s known as a “false negative” test result. This happens when a person has the STI, but it’s too early to be detected by testing.
A provider will simply write “Expedited Partner Therapy,” “E.P.T.” or “EPT” in place of the name and address on a prescription, which you or your partner can take to any pharmacy in Massachusetts. EPT also allows your provider to give or prescribe extra doses of medication for you to give to your sex partners.
Ask your health care provider about EPT. If they’re unfamiliar with EPT or if you have questions, contact the Massachusetts Department of Public Health at 617-983-6940 or ept@mass.gov.
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