Patients often believe they are not at risk for STIs if they use condoms during vaginal or anal sex. ALERT! Chlamydia can be transmitted through oral sex as well and ejaculation does not have to occur for chlamydia to be transmitted or acquired. To reduce your chances of infection, always use a condom during oral, vaginal and anal sex.

Approximately 75% of women and half (50%) of men do not experience any symptoms. Patients that do experience symptoms may have an abnormal discharge from the vagina or penis and/or pain while urinating.

Did you know chlamydia is the leading cause of preventable infertility in women? Untreated chlamydia can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), a serious infection of the reproductive organs. Every year 1 million women become infertile because of PID.

In men, chlamydia can lead to pain or swelling in the scrotal area. This is a sign of inflammation in the male reproductive system and can lead to infertility.

Since the majority of people with chlamydia have no symptoms, talk to your doctor about being tested.

Your doctor may recommend a simple urine test. With today’s technology, testing is as simple as providing a urine sample. Usually, your physician will have results for you within a few days.

If you test positive for chlamydia, your doctor will give you a prescription for antibiotics. Make sure to take all of the prescribed medicine.

Between 60-to-73% of young adults diagnosed with an STI become infected with the same STI within a year.

Don’t be embarrassed to talk to your sexual partner about having an STI. Keep in mind that every sexually active person is at risk and the majority of people with chlamydia do not even know they have it.

If you are infected, talk to your partner as soon as possible so that he or she can get tested and treated. It is possible to pass chlamydia back and forth. Therefore, if you receive treatment and your partner does not, you may become infected again.

If you’re sexually active, learn the facts and get tested!