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Find the nearest to meChlamydia
This affects both men and women, and any age group. It is the most common bacterial STI amongst young men and women, affecting 1 in 12 sexually active young people under the age of 25. Often there are no symptoms so people don’t know they have it .
How you get it:
- Unprotected vaginal or anal penetrative sex
- Oral sex
- Sharing sex toys that aren't washed or covered with a new condom each time they're used
- The genitals coming into contact with another person’s genitals – this means you can get chlamydia from someone even if there is no penetration, orgasm or ejaculation
- Infected semen or vaginal fluid getting into your eye
Symptoms:
- Most of the time, none, but sometimes pain when peeing (male), lower abdominal pain (female) or discharge from the vagina or penis.
If it’s not treated
- It can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease in women; this can lead to infertility in both men and women
- Men can get painful swollen testicles
- Men can also get a rare form of arthritis (SARA- Sexually Acquired Reactive Arthritis)
Treatment:
- Is a simple course of antibiotics - this is generally 1 tablet twice a day for one week.
