What is a 'chlamydia' infection?

   It is a sexually transmitted disease that is caused by the bacterium 'Chlamydia trachomatis'. Because approximately seventy five percent of women and fifty percent of men have no symptoms, most people infected with this germ are not aware of their infections and therefore may not seek health care.

   When diagnosed, chlamydia can be easily treated and cured. If it is not treated, it may cause severe, costly reproductive and other health problems which include serious consequences, including pelvic inflammatory disease, which is the critical link to infertility and potentially fatal tubal pregnancy.

   Up to four out of ten women with an untreated chlamydia infection will develop Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, which may progress undiagnosed for several months or years, causing infertility in about twenty percent of cases.

   Eighteen percent will experience debilitating, chronic pelvic pain and nine out of one hundred untreated patients will have a life threatening tubal pregnancy, which is the leading cause of first trimester, pregnancy related deaths in the US.

   Chlamydia may also result in adverse outcomes of pregnancy, including neonatal eye infections and pneumonia. In addition, recent studies have shown that women infected with chlamydia have a three to five-fold increased risk of acquiring HIV, if exposed.

   Chlamydia is also common among young men, who are seldom offered screening. Untreated chlamydia in men typically causes urethral infections and may also cause testicular infections.

  This is the most frequently reported infectious disease in the US. Although more than half a million cases were reported in the US last year, it is estimated that over three million cases occur annually. Under reporting is largely a result of substantial numbers of asymptomatic persons whose infections are not identified because screening is not readily available at this time.

   In the past few years reporting has substantially improved, showing that the infection rate in women is much higher than in men; although many men are still undiagnosed and untreated, which is a serious health concern because of the potential of spreading the infection to sexual partners.

   At this time, as many as one in ten adolescent girls tested for chlamydia is infected. In the West and Midwest of the US, teenage girls have the highest rates of chlamydial infection; fifteen to nineteen year old girls represent almost half of infections. Women up to twenty five years of age represent about thirty percent of this group. Unfortunately, these high infection rates are also consistent with other sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers.

   Women older than twenty five years of age have a chlamydia infection rate that may reach up to fifteen percent. In general, chlamydial infections are widespread geographically and highly prevalent among economically disadvantaged women between the ages of sixteen and twenty four.

   The economic impact of chlamydia infections and its consequences in the US is significant, reaching over two billion dollars a year. It has been estimated that screening and treatment programs can be conducted at a reasonable annual cost: every dollar spent on screening and treatment saves twelve dollars in complications that result from this untreated disease.

   At present, effective federal and state programs have achieved significant progress in the diagnosis and treatment of this disease; in some locations, the rate of infections has declined substantially —up to two third of cases, mostly in adults. The infection rate in teenagers remains high.

   Diagnosing and treating chlamydia also reduces pelvic infections and infertility. Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, prevention programs are limited to young women, are not applied consistently and have not been implemented in many US states. Many men with chlamydia are not diagnosed and treated, thus continuing the cycle of infection —affecting many of the women that are diagnosed and treated.

   The ideal situation would be for health care professionals to screen and treat sexually active female patients from age sixteen and older, at least once a year. Also, counseling should be a part of the treatment, regarding multiple partners and the appropriate methods of contraception. All women with infection of the cervix and all pregnant women should also be tested...

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