Signs of chlamydia: how to recognize the disease

Chlamydia relatively recently acquired the status of one of the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs). A few decades ago, this disease was "exotic"; and very rare. And only after the introduction of modern diagnostic tools into medical practice, the terrible truth became obvious. According to WHO estimates, more than 100 million people on the planet are sick with chlamydia, and about 1 billion of the world's population are carriers of this infection.

This prevalence explains why it is important to know the signs of chlamydia: this will allow you to contact a doctor in time and treat.

• Signs of chlamydia: what to look out for
• Diagnosis of chlamydia: what examination should be done

Signs of chlamydia: what to look out for

The greatest difficulty in the treatment of chlamydia is the late visit to the doctor. It's not always the fault of the patient — chlamydial infections very often develop simultaneously with other diseases of the genitourinary system (and including STIs). Moreover, they can mimic other diseases (salpingitis, oophoritis, non-infectious urethritis, cystitis and many others), which is also a prerequisite for delayed treatment.

It is therefore important to pay attention to any possible manifestations of chlamydia.

For women it is:

• More or less pronounced pain in the lower abdomen. Often it begins a few days before the end of menstruation or immediately after it. Depending on which organs the chlamydial infection struck, pain can be felt only on one side (left or right), spill over the entire abdomen and even radiate to the lower back and legs.

• The nature of the pain may vary depending on the intensity of inflammation

  caused by chlamydia. It can be a pulling, dull, cutting or sharp pain.

• Vaginal discharge.

  It retains its normal mucus consistency, but becomes cloudy and dirty yellow or yellow green in color. In most cases, the discharge becomes foul-smelling.

The most dangerous clinical form of the disease is the latent course. In this case, the woman has no complaints about her health, but indirect signs of chlamydia are still present. These are menstrual irregularities, algomenorrhea (painful periods), infertility, ectopic pregnancy, habitual miscarriages, congenital pathologies in the fetus.

glassy discharge from urethra;
drawing pains in scrotum, perineum, groin area and anus;
discomfort when urinating (burning, cramps, itching);
frequent urination.

Dark urine: abnormal or normal

Diagnosis of chlamydia: what examination should be done

The features of the course of chlamydial infection do not allow identifying the disease on the basis of the patient's complaints and examination.

Besides, with this disease, strong immunity "plays" against the patient: the stronger the immune system, the less pronounced the symptoms and the less likely that a person will pay attention to the problem in time.

Therefore, people often visit a doctor with other diseases that have become complications of advanced chlamydia. For this reason, special laboratory tests should be carried out to identify the pathogen.

Treatment of prostatitis in men: 7 exercises that will help The most informative are serological tests and PCR analysis. In the first case, chlamydia is confirmed by the detection of antibodies in the blood, which the immune system produces in the presence of chlamydia in the body.

PCR analysis (polymerase chain reaction) reveals the genetic traces of this infection — DNA and its fragments, which can only belong to chlamydia.

But in most cases, it is important to undergo not only a laboratory study, but and to apply to hardware diagnostic methods (ultrasound of the abdominal cavity and retroperitoneal space, transvaginal ultrasound or transrectal — for men), analyzes for  other STIs.

This is important, as chlamydia can cause severe complications in the reproductive and urinary systems, and it is often accompanied by other infections (trichomoniasis, gonorrhea, genital herpes, and others).

Only after receiving the overall picture, treatment is prescribed. It takes into account the presence of other infections and the identified complications of chlamydia.

Only with an integrated approach does it become possible to completely eliminate the pathogen and restore human health.

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