Chlamydia is a disease included in the list of the most dangerous sexually transmitted infections. It is classified as a “new” disease, since chlamydia began to be identified only a few decades ago. The disease occurs hidden, but despite its apparent harmlessness, it causes enormous damage to health and affects the course of pregnancy and the health of the newborn if chlamydia is detected during pregnancy.
Appointment with a gynecologist, urologist - 1000 rubles. Consultation with a doctor based on the results of tests or ultrasound - 500 rubles.
If untimely or absent treatment, chlamydia causes complications. In women this is infertility, in men it is epididymitis (inflammatory process in the testes). Complications of chlamydia also include Reiter's syndrome, prostatitis, salpingitis, endometritis and many others.
What is chlamydia: causes and characteristics of infection
The content of the article
The frequency of infection with chlamydia is lower than that of gonorrhea, but, nevertheless, chlamydia is practically the most common sexually transmitted disease. Every year there are about 200 million new infections with chlamydia. Chlamydia is caused by the chlamydia bacteria - Chlamydia trachomatis.
Invading the body, chlamydia primarily affects the human genitourinary system and urogenital tract. In this case, chlamydia can occur as a single infection or in combination with other infections of the genitourinary system: trichomoniasis, bacterial vaginosis.
Chlamydia is a bacterium that penetrates inside a cell and uses its substances for nutrition and other aspects of life. This is an energy parasite that is unable to synthesize ATP on its own. Chlamydia reproduces by division, the microorganism has its own DNA and RNA. As a result, human mucosal cells die.
When chlamydia enters the body, it can successfully resist the immune system and live there for many years, but not harm the carrier until a certain point. At the same time, “dormant chlamydia” is still dangerous - an infected person acts as a carrier capable of infecting other people.
Now almost 1 billion people are carriers of chlamydia. As soon as circumstances change—for example, the immune system weakens—chlamydia immediately becomes more active.
General information about the disease
Chlamydia is an infectious disease. The causative agent is chlamydia, an intracellular parasite. They can live in the cells of the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract, eyes, gastrointestinal tract, rectum and urethra. Chlamydia affects the epithelium and immune cells.
They neutralize cellular defenses to ensure normal reproduction. Every two days, an infected cell releases new parasites. Thus, chlamydia spreads throughout the body.
Important! Chlamydia react sensitively to high temperatures and exposure to phenol solution.
How can you become infected with chlamydia: once is enough
The widespread distribution of the disease is explained by the fact that its symptoms are often not pronounced, and the patient may not be aware of the presence of chlamydia for a long time.
Sexual route: vaginal, anal and oral
! Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted disease and can therefore be contracted during unprotected vaginal or anal intercourse. There is a possibility of transmission of chlamydia through oral sex, which increases significantly in the presence of damage to the mucous membranes.
Is it possible to become infected with chlamydia if “it only happened once”? Clinical studies show that transmission of chlamydia occurs in 30-50% of cases of unprotected sexual contact, if sexual intercourse with an infected partner occurs no more than once. When chlamydia is detected in a person, it is imperative to check a regular sexual partner, since the risk of infection with regularly repeated sexual intercourse is almost 100%.
During childbirth
. There is a high risk of transmitting chlamydia from mother to child during childbirth, when the newborn passes through the birth canal. In this case, infection of the eyes and mouth occurs.
Household way
. In the external environment, the parasite can remain viable for 2 days, but it is sensitive to temperature conditions, surviving only at temperatures from 16 to 22 degrees. Therefore, there is a risk of household infection through dirty dishes, toilet seats, etc. is low, however, cases of infection through this route have also been observed. Including a small percentage of infections occurs due to the transmission of bacteria when visiting a bathhouse or sauna, since in the humid and cool environment of the dressing room, chlamydia feels “at home.”
Symptoms
The incubation period of infection ranges from – 1 week to – 2 months, during which time the infection spreads in the body. In 45% of men and 65% of women, the disease does not give any manifestations during this period and can only be detected through laboratory testing of biomaterials.
With acute chlamydia, men and women experience different symptoms. At the same time, the female body is more susceptible to infection - infection occurs faster and the consequences are more serious.
Clinical manifestations
Conjunctivitis
Conjunctivitis, accompanied by severe lacrimation, is the main clinical sign of the disease. Often, conjunctivitis develops first on one side, and the second eye is affected only after a few days. Discharge from the tear ducts becomes purulent*, the third eyelid swells and covers part of the eye.
Unilateral conjunctivitis caused by Chlamydophila felis (© Merial).
Rhinitis
Clinical signs of rhinitis include sneezing and sometimes nasal discharge. There may be a slight increase in body temperature and decreased appetite.
The disease develops over six to eight weeks and can become chronic. Clinical recovery does not exclude carrier status*. Relapses are common.
Other forms
Chlamydophila felis was isolated from various organs (stomach, lungs, vagina). Thus, it can be assumed that these bacteria contribute to the development or cause the appearance of other clinical syndromes. It is believed that they can provoke spontaneous abortion.
Additional tests conducted and interpreted (eg PCR) by one of the veterinarians confirm the involvement of these bacteria in the observed disorders. Extreme caution must be used when interpreting laboratory results as they may require a very careful approach.
How does chlamydia manifest in women?
Manifestations of chlamydia in women at various stages of infection boil down to the following symptoms:
- Vaginal discharge. They have a mucous structure and may contain pus. May have an unpleasant, pungent odor.
- Pain appears during urination, a cutting or burning sensation.
- During menstruation, sharp pain in the genital area may occur.
- The appearance of bleeding between menstruation, the blood can be either pure or mixed with mucus.
- Low-grade fever, general weakness of the body, similar to the sensations during a cold.
Even one of the symptoms is an alarm bell, in which case you should definitely contact a gynecologist and get tested for chlamydia.
Danger to humans
If you ignore hygiene when caring for a sick pet, household members can become infected with chlamydia infection. The pathology manifests itself in the form of inflammation of the conjunctiva, but this only happens when the immune system is weakened. Chlamydia can lead to infertility in women. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid any contact with sick kittens by pregnant women, babies and the elderly.
Chlamydia, which is chronic, is dangerous, since often none of the family members even suspect that the cat is sick. This gives the pathogen more time to spread to a family member or another cat.
Important! The causative agents of chlamydia in cats and dogs are different, so a cat cannot infect a dog with chlamydia.
How does chlamydia manifest in men?
In men, the manifestation of chlamydia is comparable to the symptoms of urethritis, and in the first stages, many do not pay attention to the problem, believing that everything is caused by inflammation after a cold or other “trifling” factors.
Chlamydia in men can cause the following symptoms:
- Transparent mucous discharge from the urethra.
- The presence of pus in the urine and its cloudiness.
- The color of the urine changes, and bloody discharge may appear, which may also be present in the seminal fluid during ejaculation.
- Urination is accompanied by a burning or stinging sensation.
- Spontaneous pain appears in the pelvic area, lower back, and scrotum.
- A low-grade fever is observed (the temperature rises from 37.1 to 38 degrees).
- General physical malaise.
It happens that chlamydia in men forms local colonies without general infection of the body. Focal accumulations without the development of an infectious disease are caused by strong immunity and antibody resistance to the effects of chlamydia. However, the man remains infectious.
Caring for a cat when sick
Pets infected with chlamydia are isolated from other pets and not allowed outside.
Change in feeding
To prevent the development of dysbiosis, yoghurts and other fermented milk products containing lactobacilli are added to the cat’s diet. The pet should be given chicken broth and liquid medicated food, since it is easier to add drugs in solid form, previously crushed into powder.
Personal hygiene
The room where an animal infected with chlamydia is located must be treated with disinfectants. It is necessary to more carefully monitor the hygiene of a sick cat and clean the litter box more often. The owner must clean his shoes when entering the apartment, and be sure to wash his hands with soap after contact with the pet.
It is advisable not to disturb the sick animal too much (play less with it and keep small children away from the family pet).
Oral chlamydia and its symptoms
When infected with chlamydia during oral sex or when transmitting bacteria through household means through dishes, etc. Oral chlamydia develops, affecting the oral cavity, throat, and nasopharynx. In this case, the following symptoms of the disease may be observed:
- Constant bad breath.
- The nasopharynx becomes covered with mucous deposits.
- Gradually, the mucus moves to the upper palate and tongue.
- There is nasal congestion and difficulty breathing.
- Enlarged tonsils, swelling of the back of the throat.
- Loss of taste due to mucus on the taste buds of the tongue.
- Pain when pressing on the mucous membrane of the throat, palate or tongue.
- Difficulty breathing due to a swollen throat.
- Attacks of suffocation most often occur in the evening or during hot periods.
Over time, the patient loses taste sensitivity, and eating is accompanied by pain that appears when food passes through the sore throat. A constant unpleasant sensation in the mouth develops. Spasmodic, involuntary twitching of the tongue is acceptable.
Since the symptoms of chlamydia are quite vague and often resemble manifestations of other diseases, it is necessary to consult a doctor in case of any abnormalities (discharge, itching, burning). For women it is a gynecologist, for men it is a urologist.
Routes of infection
Pets can contract the disease in a variety of ways.
Contact:
- Kittens born from an infected cat
- When catching rodents
- Contact with excrement of infected individuals
- Through care items
- Through the sole of a shoe, outer clothing and the hands of a person who has been in contact with an infected animal
Airborne:
- Cats in shelters and nurseries
- At the veterinarian's appointment
- While walking and traveling by public transport
- From other infected pets.
Fecal-oral:
- Through food and water.
Sexual:
- During mating.
Complications
Chlamydia often causes serious illnesses, which are a complication of the disease if treatment is improper or ineffective. In particular, the following consequences were identified:
- Reiter's syndrome
is the most serious complication, during which symptoms of urethritis, conjunctivitis and arthritis develop. In the final stages, joint deformation occurs - the cause of disability for life. - Orchiepididymitis
- a disease fraught with male infertility due to the destruction of Leydig cells, which contribute to the spermogenesis procedure. - Urethral stricture
- due to the appearance of scars on the tissue caused by the attack of chlamydia, the urethra narrows and is pinched, resulting in sharp pain when urinating. To correct the situation, surgical intervention is performed. - Chronic prostatitis
- chlamydia has a complex negative effect on the prostate, promotes narrowing of the ducts, reduces the production of prostate secretions, lowers the level of testosterone production, which leads to a decrease in potency.
The complications described above appear in the stages of advanced chlamydia if treatment is not started on time. In most cases, complications can be avoided.
Chlamydia during pregnancy
Chlamydia has a serious impact on the course of pregnancy and can cause a wide range of problems and malfunctions in the female body. Depending on at what stage of pregnancy chlamydia began, you may encounter the following consequences:
- Blastopathy – the death of the fertilized egg occurs, which ends in a frozen pregnancy or miscarriage.
- Embryopathy – abnormalities in the development of the fallopian tubes;
- Premature birth.
- Ectopic pregnancy.
If chlamydia was suffered before pregnancy, it can cause failure of nidation of the fertilized egg, which in the vast majority of cases leads to female infertility. Taking into account all the risks, testing for chlamydia is mandatory when planning pregnancy, as well as at various stages of bearing a child, if signs and symptoms of the presence of chlamydia in the body appear.
Even if chlamydia did not cause significant problems during pregnancy, chlamydia can be passed on to the baby during childbirth. The most serious complication in newborns resulting from maternal chlamydia is neonatal chlamydial pneumonia. This disease is difficult to treat, has many complications and high mortality statistics. Children born to a mother with chlamydia must be tested for infection between 1 and 3 months of age.
How is chlamydia diagnosed: tests for chlamydia
To date, several effective methods for diagnosing chlamydia have been developed, which make it possible to determine the presence of an infectious pathogen even if it is present in the sample in minimal quantities. A smear, scraping from the surface of the genital organs, blood, seminal fluid, etc. can be used as the test material. Diana Medical Center does not use rapid tests to diagnose chlamydia, which provide false results.
Basic and most highly effective techniques.
- Immunofluorescence reaction (RIF);
- Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA);
- Polymerase chain reaction (PCR);
- Culture for chlamydia.
General smear (the probability of detecting the presence of chlamydia in this way is no more than 15%, so the use of this analysis is not effective, but it will help to identify concomitant infections that aggravate the problem). Read about tests for chlamydia here.
Striving for maximum accuracy and information content, preference is given to high-tech methods:
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent test (ELISA)
The technique makes it possible to fairly accurately determine the stage of the disease and chlamydial origin, as well as the presence of microorganisms in other organs not related to the genitourinary system. It has a relatively high research accuracy - up to 60%. It can be effectively carried out only after the development of specific antibodies to chlamydia has begun - 5-20 days from the moment of infection.
This is due to the fact that ELISA and RIF - enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunofluorescence reaction research are not aimed at identifying the causative agent of chlamydia itself, but at detecting specific antibodies to this particular antigen. This is achieved through the controlled formation of antigen-antibody complexes, which in the case of the RIF method are labeled with a fluorescent substance, which makes the resulting complexes luminous. This makes them easier to detect during microscopic examination of the material.
During the research, the concentration of antibodies of the IgM, IgA, IgG groups produced by the body during protection against chlamydial infection at different stages of infection of the body is determined. The research takes quite a bit of time and is inexpensive.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
The PCR method is highly effective and allows us to say with 100% probability whether there is chlamydia in the body or not. The study is based on the technology of detecting chlamydia DNA in a sample taken - scraping from the urethra, prostate secretion, ejaculate, urine sediment, saliva, blood and other biomaterials. Determining the results, depending on the equipment used, takes up to 3 days.
By triggering the reaction of duplicating DNA segments, a specialist can, in a short period of time, obtain the genetic chain of an infectious pathogen that is a million times longer in comparison with the primary segment. This allows chlamydia to be identified with 100% accuracy.
The technique is highly accurate; obtaining incorrect results is only possible if the sampling technology or transportation of the biomaterial is violated.
Chlamydia culture
Microbiological testing is 90% accurate in identifying chlamydia in the body.
By inoculating a sample of biological material on a special nutrient medium and creating favorable conditions for reproduction and growth, after some time it is possible to obtain a full-fledged colony of the pathogen. In this case, it is not difficult to identify the infection by simple microscopic examination. The advantage of this technique is the possibility of testing the sensitivity of the pathogen to various antibiotics. This allows you to choose the most effective drug for the treatment of chlamydia.
Diagnostic methods
First of all, the diagnosis of chlamydial conjunctivitis involves a complete ophthalmological examination and laboratory tests . Additionally, examinations may be prescribed not only by an ophthalmologist, but also by a rheumatologist, venereologist, otolaryngologist, urologist and gynecologist.
The next stage is a biomicroscopic examination of the organs of vision using an ophthalmological lamp. This diagnostic method allows you to identify the formation of swelling.
Next, an instillation fluorescein test , which can show damage to the cornea. In order to assess the condition of the retina, an ophthalmoscopy procedure is prescribed.
Treatment of chlamydia
Since the causative agent of chlamydia is an intracellular bacterium, antibacterial drugs are used in the treatment of the disease (etiotropic therapy). Antibiotics are selected that destroy microorganisms of the identified group. Only a competent specialist can prescribe suitable medications based on the tests performed and after identifying the type of chlamydial bacteria, the affected area and the progress of the disease.
In addition, if there are concomitant infections, antibiotics, antifungals, and immunomodulators can be used. If there is a large amount of discharge, antimicrobial agents will be required.
As a rule, drugs are prescribed in the form of tablets, injections, and can be used locally in the form of vaginal suppositories for women. In most cases, several medications and auxiliary agents are combined, which also reduce the possibility of developing complications or intoxication of the body. Treatment is carried out at home. After completing the course of therapy, after 2-3 weeks a repeat test for chlamydia is done and if no bacteria are found, the treatment can be considered successful.
An important nuance is the need to notify the sexual partner about the presence of chlamydial infection, since with a high probability the partner may be infected with chlamydia, which will also require treatment using the same drugs and techniques. Doctors recommend that both partners be tested at the same time and treated together. This will avoid secondary infection.
Prevention of chlamydia
To reduce the risk of chlamydia and the development of chlamydia, it is recommended to adhere to simple rules of personal and intimate hygiene, as well as caution in choosing sexual relations. Protect against chlamydia:
- Using a condom during sexual intercourse.
- Refusal of casual relationships in favor of one permanent partner.
- Compliance with the rules of personal intimate hygiene, especially after visiting public baths and saunas.
It is recommended to be tested annually for chlamydia and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs, STDs) and non-sexually transmitted infections. It is also mandatory to take the test when planning a pregnancy and repeat it during pregnancy.
The use of contraception and compliance with moral standards when engaging in sexual activity will significantly reduce the risk of infection with chlamydia and the subsequent development of chlamydia in men and women.
Vaccination
Chlamydophila felis belong to the causative agents of diseases (determining the valence* of the vaccine), which are called variant (English: “non core”), that is, the use of a vaccine containing them is recommended in animals at risk. The veterinarian uses it when he considers it necessary, for example in infected nurseries or shelters with a high risk of infection.
In Russia, inactivated vaccines with the addition of an adjuvant* or live attenuated vaccines are available. The purpose of using these vaccines is to eliminate or significantly reduce the intensity of clinical manifestations, and in certain cases, to reduce the level of isolation* of bacteria.
Vaccinated animals may not show clinical signs of the disease, but may be a carrier of the bacteria: an animal that is vaccinated and protected (that is, will never show clinical signs) can be a carrier of the bacteria
Purevax RCPCh is used to protect kittens and cats from chlamydia. Vaccination schedule for kittens against chlamydia.
