Chlamydia Treatment
If you think you’ve been exposed to chlamydia or you’re experiencing symptoms you believe might be caused by chlamydia, you should get a chlamydia test and get treatment. While there is currently no vaccine to protect you against chlamydia, chlamydia is easily cured with antibiotics when it’s detected early. If you have chlamydia, it’s very common that you also have gonorrhea, and it’s advisable to get tested for both diseases at the same time.
Chlamydia Symptoms
Common symptoms of chlamydia include a burning feeling when you urinate and discharge from your penis or vagina. Some men also have pain in their testicles and it makes sexual intercourse painful for some women. Lower abdomen pain is sometimes also present with chlamydia. However, many people who have chlamydia don’t experience any symptoms at all and can pass the disease to others. The only way to know for sure if you have chlamydia is to get a chlamydia test.
Chlamydia Test – What to Expect
If you go to your doctor for a chlamydia test, your doctor might want to examine your genital area to look for signs of infection. He also might choose to swab your penis or vagina to send to a laboratory to test for the disease.
When you follow the instructions in our anonymous testing guide, you won’t have to disrobe or have your genitals inspected. You will have to provide a urine sample at a test lab, and you shouldn’t urinate for about one hour prior to your test.
Chlamydia Test Accuracy
The most accurate chlamydia test is a nucleic acid amplification test, or NAAT, that tests for the presence of chlamydia DNA in your urine. You might also hear it referred to as a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR test, which is a type of NAA test. A false-positive test result, which indicates that you have the disease when you really don’t, is very uncommon. If you test positive for chlamydia with this test, you almost certainly have the disease.
However, it takes some time for enough chlamydia DNA to build up in your system for it to be detected in your urine. If you have symptoms you think might be chlamydia, this is usually not a concern and you should get tested right away. If you think you’ve been exposed to chlamydia but you don’t have any symptoms yet, some doctors recommend that you wait 24 hours before getting tested because it can take from one to five days to have enough chlamydia DNA to be detected.
Chlamydia Treatment
If visit your doctor for a chlamydia test and you test positive, your doctor will likely prescribe antibiotics to cure the disease. However, your doctor will also report your name, address, birth date and other personal information to the state health department. Someone from the health department will contact you or might even come to visit you at home to discuss notifying your sexual partners about the disease.
When you follow the instructions in our free guide to anonymous STD testing and you test positive, you can call a toll-free number and speak to a doctor about treatment. The doctor will likely offer to call in an antibiotic prescription to your pharmacy. Because you followed our instructions to protect your anonymity, your name and personal information will not be associated with the positive chlamydia test.
Chlamydia ReTest
Some doctors recommend getting tested again for chlamydia about two weeks after you complete your treatment to ensure the disease has been completely eliminated.
More Information About Chlamydia
Chlamydia Fact Sheet from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
