How Long Should You Wait For Sex After Chlamydia Treatment?

Yes, you should inform your sexual partners that you have chlamydia and make sure they get tested. A specialist sexual health clinic can help you contact your sexual partners and speak to them on your behalf, or send them a letter.

You should avoid all sex (including vaginal and oral) until you have completed your course of antibiotics and until your partner is fully treated. This reduces the risk of infection spreading.

Single-Dose Antibiotics

Chlamydia is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It can cause painful symptoms and serious health problems, including infertility if left untreated. Women and men of all ages can get chlamydia. But it’s most common among young people who often change their partners and have unprotected sex. Chlamydia spreads when bacteria (Chlamydia trachomatis) pass from an infected person to another person. It can occur during vaginal, anal or oral sex, or when someone uses a toothbrush, penis or tampon to manually stimulate the genital area.

Sexually transmitted chlamydia is most often treated with a single dose of antibiotics. The medication kills the bacteria and most people who take the medicine correctly will be cured within a week. But you should avoid all types of sex for 7 days after you and your partner finish treatment. You can also get re-infected with chlamydia by sharing the same tampon or toothbrush, or having sex with someone who has been infected with the bacteria.

Research shows that the most effective chlamydia treatment is azithromycin (1 g single dose) or doxycycline 100 mg twice daily for seven days. Both medications are available as single-dose tablets, and they can be taken with or without food. The study will recruit 700 MSM who attend Australian sexual health clinics to provide rectal swabs and will be randomly assigned to azithromycin or doxycycline. The researchers will test participants’ chlamydia status using a nucleic acid amplification test. They will also interview participants about symptoms, their sexual behaviour and drug adherence via short message service and online survey.

Multi-Dose Antibiotics

Chlamydia is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted disease in America. It can lead to cervicitis in women and urethritis or proctitis in men. If left untreated, chlamydia can cause serious complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), tubal factor infertility and ectopic pregnancy. Chlamydia is also easily passed from a mother to her baby during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding.

Successful treatment of chlamydia usually results in complete cure within two to three months. However, some people who have chlamydia experience recurrences or reinfections of the infection. These can be caused by untreated past infections, new sexual partners or failure to complete a full course of treatment. Retesting for chlamydia is typically done three months after finishing treatment to ensure that the infection is fully cleared and that recurrences are not occurring.

It is recommended that people who have chlamydia tell all of their anal, vaginal and oral sex partners about the diagnosis. This will help reduce the likelihood that these sex partners will be exposed to serious complications and that they will become infected as well. These sex partners can be encouraged to see a health care provider for testing and treatment.

Despite the high success rate of antibiotics in treating STDs such as chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, these diseases can return after treatment, especially when they are contracted by sexually active people who fail to take proper precautions. Regular STD testing with Rapid Testing and the use of STI prevention pills can help keep sexually transmitted diseases out of your life for good.

Symptoms

Chlamydia can be treated with single doses of antibiotics that are administered in the doctor’s office. If the chlamydia infection is complicated, such as when it is spreading to the fallopian tubes in women (which can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, or PID), a longer course of medicine is needed. In either case, the person should not have sex until they are completely treated and their sex partner is tested and treated, too. They should also get tested for chlamydia again in three months to ensure the infection is completely cured.

Infections caused by the chlamydia bacteria — Chlamydia trachomatis — can affect many body systems, but symptoms most often include pain during or after sexual activity; discharge from the vagina, penis or anus; a sore throat or swollen glands; or rectal pain and bleeding. In infants, the chlamydia bacteria can also cause a serious eye infection called conjunctivitis or pneumonia.

Chlamydia can be prevented by using condoms during sexual contact and always washing sex toys before use. People should also talk openly with their sexual partners about STI prevention and use barrier methods when having anal or oral sex. For example, a Glyde dam or a cut-open condom can be used for safer oral sex. They should also practice safe sex by having vaginal, anal or oral sex only with a partner who uses a condom and is screened for STIs regularly.

Treatment

Most often, chlamydia treatment is a single dose of oral antibiotics, such as azithromycin or doxycycline. The medication cures 99% of people with the infection and is effective for anyone, regardless of HIV status.

Women with chlamydia can return to sexual activity seven days after taking their antibiotics. However, they should not have vaginal or anal sex until their treatment is complete and they have received a negative test result. In addition, they should tell all their sexual partners to get tested and treated as well, even if they don’t have symptoms.

Men with chlamydia can usually go back to sexual activity two weeks after their treatment is over. But they should not have any sexual contact until their partner receives a negative test result and has taken all the antibiotics he or she was prescribed.

Both women and men with chlamydia need to get tested again about three months after finishing their antibiotics, even if they don’t have any symptoms of the disease. This ensures that the infection was completely cured and that no one else has been infected.

CDC recommends that everyone who is sexually active gets screened for chlamydia and other STIs at least once per year. That includes young women, men, and those who are high-risk for infection, such as people living in correctional facilities or adolescent clinics. Infections from chlamydia can lead to serious complications, including infertility, and are difficult to detect without screening.