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STI Information – Chlamydia

Chlamydia is a bacterial infection that affects both men and women – it’s not choosey.

Chlamydia is a very common sexually transmitted infection that seems to be very prevalent umong the younger age group. Around 1 in 10 people under the age of 25 that are tested are found to have Chlamydia.

The problem with Chlamydia is that there are rarely any signs that you have it and you certainly won’t be able to see any signs on a prospective sexual partner; this has led to Chlamydia being known as the ‘invisible infection’

General advice for the under 25s is to get tested at least once a year (if they are sexually active, of course) – and you need to get tested as this is the only way you are likely to find out that you have it!

If you do notice something wrong it’s likely to show up 1-3 weeks after having sex.

Visible symptoms are unlikely but guys may notice:

Women may notice:

Getting Chlamydia is really very easy, you just have to hav penetrative or oral (yes oral!) sex with an infected person.

However, if you frequent playgrounds you may think that you can get chlamydia by kissing, sharing towels, cutlery, cups and plates, or toilet seats – but you can’t, you get it from unprotected sex, simple as.

If women are not treated then this can lead to fertility problems, ectopic pregnancy and chronic pelvis pain – so get tested and get treated. Also note, the more times a women get chlamydia the greater her chance of becoming infertile even if it is treated.

Men – you don’t get off; it is belived that if left untreated for long periods then men could also suffer from fertility problems.

Testing and treatment is free on the NHS so go book that appointment. If you can’t get there or don’t want your doctor to know then you can get a test kit from Boots, but that’ll cost you.

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STIs and Sexually Transmitted Diseases

There are a lot of old wives tales and misinformation about STIs and some of them are true and of course, some of them are not.

One scary fact though, is that up to 70% of women and 50% of men can have an STI and still show no symptoms or signs of having one and carry on in blissful ignorance. Also, there are an estimated 20,000 people in the UK that are living with HIV and they have absolutely no idea.

In the last 10 years the number of people in the UK that are affected with Chlamydia has risen by over 200% and the number of people infected with Syphilis has risen by over a staggering 1900%

It goes without saying that if you have unprotected sex then there is a much higher chance of catching an STI such as Chlamydia or Syphilis, so don’t delay, buy some CONDOMS today.

Of course, you don’t need to ‘sleep around’ to get an STI. If you don’t wear a condom then you are at risk and you only have to sleep with one person….. but how many people has that one person slept with?

If you think you might have an STI (does it itch? Sore? Blisters?) then go and get it checked out. Get in contact with your local sexual heath (GUM) clinic; it’s both confidential and free so there really is no excuse. Embarassed about getting your bits out? No need to be, we all have them, and lets face it, by the time you walk through the door the doctors will have seen every size, shape and colour imaginable and so they’re fairly unlikely to give a monkeys about yours.

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