What is chlamydia?

In men, the chlamydia bacterium settles in the urethra, but both women and men run the risk of the bacteria spreading further in the abdomen and can cause inflammation in the fallopian tubes in women and in the epididymis in men.

The chlamydia bacteria is easily contagious, and therefore also spreads quickly on the infected mucous membrane. Chlamydia is one of the most widespread sexually transmitted diseases in Denmark.

Chlamydia can also be transmitted to the mucous membrane of the rectum during anal intercourse, to the throat during oral sex and to the eyes through semen, presperm and vaginal secretions or through direct contact with an infected mucous membrane during childbirth.

You can be infected with chlamydia for up to 1-2 years if you are not treated.

How is chlamydia transmitted?

Chlamydia is transmitted from person to person if a condom is not used during intercourse in the vagina or rectum or if the genitals come into close contact with each other without using a condom. You do not get chlamydia on the genitals through oral sex, but you can get chlamydia in the throat.

You do not get chlamydia by sharing a towel with someone who has chlamydia, neither is chlamydia transmitted through water, so you cannot get infected by taking a shower with someone who is infected with chlamydia.

What are the symptoms of chlamydia?

Only one in four women with chlamydia have signs of infection, and only one in two infected men have symptoms. You can therefore easily be infected or infect others with chlamydia without knowing it. If you feel the symptoms, they usually appear between 1-3 weeks after the infection. But symptoms may well appear after you have been infected for a long time without symptoms.

The symptoms can e.g. be discharge from the urethra or increased discharge from the vagina, and burning pain when urinating, so that it feels "like peeing broken glass" when going to the toilet. Some women will also experience spotting during intercourse if they are infected.

After intercourse in the rectum, an infection can occur in the rectum with pain, discharge and possibly diarrhoea. If symptoms occur in the throat, these usually feel like a common sore throat. Chlamydia bacteria in the eye can lead to eye inflammation, which manifests as cloudy eyes and pus in the eyes.

How is chlamydia tested and treated?

You have to go to the doctor or visit a venereal disease clinic to be examined.

Women receive a gynecological examination, during which they are vaccinated from the cervix. If the woman has symptoms, she is also inoculated in the urethra, unless the doctor performs a urine test.

Men are given a urine test. Men who have sex with men should also be vaccinated in the rectum and throat. Testing with a urine sample is relatively new, but is gradually being used in most places. In some places, cotton swabs are still used for sampling. Chlamydia is relatively easy to treat with tablets.

If the symptoms do not disappear with treatment, it is relevant to test for mycoplasma genitalium.

The diagnosis can be made 1-2 weeks after the time of infection. The Danish Health Authority recommends that you do not have sex until one week after the treatment has ended.

Possible consequences of chlamydia

If one is infected with chlamydia and is not treated, it can have serious consequences.

If you have a vagina, chlamydia can be to blame for:

• Abdominal inflammation
• Involuntary childlessness
• Pregnancy outside the uterus
• Chronic abdominal pain
• Reactive arthritis

If you have a penis, chlamydia can be to blame for:

• Involuntary childlessness
• Inflammation of the epididymis
• Reactive arthritis

A chlamydia infection that is treated in time does not have any consequences.