What is chlamydia? How many people have chlamydia? How is chlamydia spread? What are the symptoms of chlamydia? Men and chlamydia Women and chlamydia Chlamydia and pregnancy How does chlamydia infection affect the new born? How is chlamydia diagnosed? Is there a cure for chlamydia? What if I don’t treat my chlamydia? Is chlamydia dangerous? Who is most likely to get chlamydia? How can people with chlamydia avoid spreading it? How can I avoid getting chlamydia? A review of what’s new! Links and References

Diagnosed, chlamydia can be easily treated and cured as described above. Chlamydia is a serious health threat, especially for women. Untreated, chlamydia can cause severe, costly reproductive and other health problems which include both short- and long-term consequences, including pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which is the critical link to infertility, and potentially fatal tubal pregnancy. PID can scar and block the fallopian tubes. That can make a woman sterile and unable to get pregnant. Fertilized eggs may not reach the uterus because tubes are blocked. If they develop in the tubes, this is called an ectopic pregnancy or tubal pregnancy. A woman may die if a pregnancy develops outside her uterus. She usually needs emergency surgery. Women with PID of the fallopian tubes are 7-10 times more likely than other women to have ectopic pregnancies.

Chlamydia can also make men sterile. It can spread from the urethra to the testicles. Then it can result in a condition called epididymitis. Epididymitis can cause sterility. Symptoms include fever as well as swelling and a variable degree of pain in the scrotum.

Chlamydia may also result in adverse outcomes of pregnancy, including neonatal conjunctivitis (newborn eye infections) and pneumonia. In addition, recent research has shown that women infected with chlamydia have a 3 - 5 fold increased risk of acquiring HIV, if exposed.