Untreated chlamydia can trigger arthritis, skin rashes, and inflammation in the eye or rectum. For women, chlamydia can spread into the uterus and the fallopian tubes and cause pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). This can cause problems with pregnancy, such as ectopic pregnancy.
Although chlamydia does not usually cause any symptoms and can normally be treated with a short course of antibiotics, it can be serious if it's not treated early on. If left untreated, the infection can spread to other parts of your body and lead to long-term health problems, especially in women.
If left untreated, chlamydia can cause pelvic inflammatory disease in women, which can lead to chronic pain and infertility. In men, untreated chlamydia can cause pain and swelling in one or both testicles. If detected early, chlamydia may be treated with a single dose of antibiotics.
If chlamydia is left untreated, it can spread to the womb and cause a serious condition called pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). This is a major cause of ectopic pregnancy and infertility in women.
What is late-stage chlamydia? Late-stage chlamydia refers to an infection that has spread to other parts of the body. For example, it may have spread to the cervix (cervicitis), testicular tubes (epididymitis), eyes (conjunctivitis), or throat (pharyngitis), causing inflammation and pain.
Without medical intervention, a chlamydia infection can persist for years if gone unnoticed [1]. Fortunately, once diagnosed, a healthcare provider can provide patients with the right medication to treat the sexually transmitted infection (STI).
There is no clear timeline on how long it may take for this to occur - while one study suggests that after exposure to the bacteria, it can take a few weeks for PID to develop, the NHS estimates that 1 in 10 women with untreated chlamydia could go on to develop PID within a year.
Chlamydia can eventually cause excessive damage and scarring to the fallopian tubes, ovaries, or testicles, all of which can contribute to a higher risk of infertility.
In the later stages of Gonorrhea and Chlamydia, people often complain about being extremely tired. Along with these infections, fatigue can also be caused by Hepatitis A, B, or C. Associating fatigue with having a busy lifestyle is not a good idea as it can be a symptom of a Sexually Transmitted Disease.
C. trachomatis infection appears to elicit a strong natural immune response that reduces substantially the susceptibility to reinfection. Immunity mechanism can be either a reduction in susceptibility to reinfection or a reduction in infectious-period duration upon reinfection, or a combination of both.
The first and most important immune response to Chlamydia infection is a local one, whereby immune cells such as leukocytes are recruited to the site of infections, and subsequently secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines such as interferon gamma.
Chlamydia is unique among bacteria, having an infectious cycle and two developmental forms. These include the infectious form called the elementary body (EB) and the reticulate body (RB). The EB is metabolically inactive and is taken up by host cells.
The infection is carried in semen (cum), pre-cum, and vaginal fluids. Chlamydia can infect the penis, vagina, cervix, anus, urethra, eyes, and throat. Most people with chlamydia don't have any symptoms and feel totally fine, so they might not even know they're infected.
Chlamydia is very common: it's the most frequently reported infectious disease in Australia, and nearly 97,000 men and women are diagnosed with it each year. If you're sexually active and under 30 years of age, you are at the highest risk of contracting chlamydia.
An untreated chlamydia infection can persist for several years. Although this goes for both men and women, it is believed that men are less likely to carry the bacteria for several years. If you remain infected for a long time you have an increased risk of complications.
People who have chlamydia for long periods without treatment risk becoming infertile or developing arthritis. For women, chlamydia can spread into the uterus and fallopian tubes, causing pelvic inflammatory disease. Pelvic inflammatory disease can lead to ectopic pregnancies, chronic pelvic pain and infertility.
Whilst Chlamydia often lays dormant in many people, the disease may flare up and cause symptoms due to a change in the immune system such as a cold or flu.
Can you tell how long you've had chlamydia? For most people, symptoms of chlamydia show up between one week and three months after unprotected sex. But, it can take longer than three months. Your healthcare provider may learn more about the infection when they diagnose it.
Chlamydia is a bacterial infection (like strep throat or an ear infection), which means that once you've been treated and tested negative for it (to make sure the antibiotics worked), it's gone.
Chlamydia can be cured with antibiotics from a health care provider. However, if chlamydia is left untreated, it can cause permanent damage. Your risk of getting other STIs, like gonorrhea or HIV, increases. In males, untreated chlamydia can lead to sterility (inability to make sperm).
If a person's symptoms continue for more than a few days after receiving treatment, he or she should return to a health care provider to be reevaluated. Repeat infection with chlamydia is common. Women whose sex partners have not been appropriately treated are at high risk for re-infection.
Chlamydiae exist as two stages: (1) infectious particles called elementary bodies and (2) intracytoplasmic, reproductive forms called reticulate bodies.