How is chlamydia treated?

How is chlamydia treated?

Chlamydia is treated with antibiotics.

Make sure your sexual partner also gets treatment. Otherwise, the treated partner becomes re-infected. Repeated infection can cause far worse fertility problems in women.

Not all antibiotics are effective. There are two major groups of antibiotics that work, so make sure you get one of these.

• Tetracyclines: the usual prescribed drug is doxycycline. One tablet should be taken twice a day for a week.
  
  
• Macrolides: azithromycin is the most convenient treatment because you take four tablets at the same time.
  
  

If you have chlamydia, do what you can to encourage any ex-partners to get tested. This infection can stay unrecognised for months, if not years.

How can I make sure I don't get chlamydia?

• Use condoms with new sexual partners.
  
  
• Before you stop using condoms, make sure you and your partner get checked out for STIs by your local GUM clinic or GP.
  
  

How common is chlamydia?

In the UK chlamydia infections are rising. Between 2000 and 2005 the number of chlamydia infections increased by 14 per cent, with an estimated 1 per cent of women aged 16-19 having the infection.

Overall the rates of chlamydia in other Western European countries are lower than those in the UK.

The higher number of cases in the UK may partly be due to the national screening programme for chlamydia being rolled out in England. This should identify more people with the infection. Similar initiatives are underway in Scotland.

There have been high profile education campaigns targeted at the younger age group as part of the screening programme. STIs are now discussed in school-based sex education programmes.