Abstract – The objective of this study was to describe the time required to obtain a negative chlamydia test in pregnant and nonpregnant women following treatment to inform test-of-cure collection and recommend an abstinence period to avoid reinfection.
Seventy-two women with Chlamydia trachomatis infection, 36 pregnant and 36 nonpregnant, were enrolled in a prospective cohort study. Women were excluded less than 18 years of age, if they had been treated for chlamydia, reported an allergy to macrolide antibiotics, or if they had Myasthenia Gravis. Women were treated for chlamydia with single-dose therapy and submitted weekly vaginal chlamydia nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs).
Once NAATwere negative, the participants completed the study. Forty-seven women completed the study per protocol. The primary outcome was to determine the time to a negative chlamydia NAAT following treatment, with secondary outcomes of determining the appropriate time to collect a test-of-cure following chlamydia treatment and to recommend an appropriate abstinence period following treatment to avoid reinfection.
- Results showed that the time to a negative chlamydia NAAT was significantly different between groups (log-rank p = 0.0013).
- The median number of days to obtain a negative chlamydia NAAT was 8 days (IQR 7–14) in pregnant and 7 days (IQR 6–10) in nonpregnant women (WRST p = 0.04).
- All participants had a negative chlamydia NAAT by day 29 post-treatment.
Following single-dose treatment for chlamydia, both pregnant and nonpregnant women should test negative with NAAT by 30 days post-treatment. Clinicians should collect a test-of-cure in pregnant women no earlier than 1 month. To avoid reinfection, women should avoid condomless intercourse for at least 1 month.
Contents
- 1 Can I retest for chlamydia after 2 months?
- 2 Why do I have to wait 3 months to test after chlamydia?
- 3 How do I know if my chlamydia is gone?
- 4 Can you still have chlamydia after a week of antibiotics?
- 5 Why do I have to wait 7 days after chlamydia treatment?
- 6 Can you test negative for chlamydia after 2 weeks?
- 7 Can chlamydia come back by itself?
- 8 Does it matter how long you have chlamydia?
- 9 What is the window period of chlamydia?
- 10 How accurate is a chlamydia test after 7 days?
- 11 Why do I have to wait 7 days after chlamydia treatment?
How many weeks after chlamydia treatment will you test negative?
Treatment for chlamydia – Chlamydia is treated with a course of antibiotics, usually as tablets. You can get a second test 6 weeks after your treatment to check that the infection has cleared. Once you’ve been diagnosed, you should not have any sex until 7 days after you have completed your treatment.
Can you retest for chlamydia 2 weeks after treatment?
If nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) are used, patients should not be retested less than three weeks post-treatment, due to the risk of false-positive test results. In general, a test-of-cure is not recommended for non-pregnant patients who received first-line therapies.
Can I retest for chlamydia after 2 months?
Retesting After Treatment to Detect Repeat Infections Retesting 3 months after diagnosis of chlamydia, gonorrhea, or trichomoniasis can detect repeat infection and potentially can be used to enhance population-based prevention ( 136, 137 ). Any person who has a positive test for chlamydia or gonorrhea, along with women who have a positive test for trichomonas, should be rescreened 3 months after treatment. Any person who receives a syphilis diagnosis should undergo follow-up serologic syphilis testing per current recommendations and follow-up testing for HIV (see Syphilis). Additional information regarding retesting is available elsewhere in this report (see Chlamydial Infections; Gonococcal Infections; Syphilis; Trichomoniasis). : Retesting After Treatment to Detect Repeat Infections
Why do I have to wait 3 months to test after chlamydia?
When should I get tested? – Don’t delay getting tested if you think you might have chlamydia. Being diagnosed and treated as soon as possible will reduce your risk of developing any serious complications of chlamydia, You can get a chlamydia test at any time – although you might be advised to repeat the test later on if you have it less than 2 weeks since you had sex because the infection might not always be found in the early stages.
you or your partner have any symptoms of chlamydia you’ve had unprotected sex with a new partnera condom splits while you’re having sexyou or your partner have had unprotected sex with other peopleyou think you could have a sexually transmitted infection (STI) a sexual partner tells you they have an STIyou’re pregnant or planning a pregnancyyou’re offered a chlamydia test as part of the NCSP
If you live in England, you’re a woman under 25 and sexually active, it’s recommended that you have a chlamydia test once a year, and when you have sex with new or casual partners. If you live in England, you’re a man under 25 and sexually active, it’s recommended that you have a chlamydia test once a year if you are not using condoms with new or casual partners.
Can you retest for chlamydia 3 weeks after treatment?
What is the treatment for chlamydia? – Chlamydia can be easily cured with antibiotics. HIV-positive persons with chlamydia should receive the same treatment as those who are HIV-negative. Persons with chlamydia should abstain from sexual activity for 7 days after single dose antibiotics or until completion of a 7-day course of antibiotics, to prevent spreading the infection to partners.
It is important to take all of the medication prescribed to cure chlamydia. Medication for chlamydia should not be shared with anyone. Although medication will stop the infection, it will not repair any permanent damage done by the disease. If a person’s symptoms continue for more than a few days after receiving treatment, he or she should return to a health care provider to be reevaluated.
Repeat infection with chlamydia is common. Women whose sex partners have not been appropriately treated are at high risk for re-infection. Having multiple chlamydial infections increases a woman’s risk of serious reproductive health complications, including pelvic inflammatory disease and ectopic pregnancy.
Can you still test positive for chlamydia after antibiotics?
How long does a person test positive for chlamydia after treatment? – Healthcare professionals use nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) to diagnose chlamydia. However, NAATs cannot differentiate between chlamydia nucleic acid when it is nonviable (dead) and when it is viable (active).
This means that if people have a NAAT while a chlamydia infection is still clearing from the body, it may cause a positive test result. According to a 2016 article, chlamydia testing may produce a positive result if it is within 14 days after beginning treatment. If people have a positive result shortly after 14 days, it is most likely a false-positive result rather than treatment failure or repeat infection.
A test of cure (TOC) is a requirement as standard care of practice. It can help detect whether or not the treatment has failed. Doctors encourage people to schedule a follow-up appointment at the time of treatment. A TOC tests for chlamydia 4 weeks after a person has completed treatment.
- Research suggests that treatment failure with azithromycin may occur between 5% and 23% of cases.
- It is very common to have repeat infections of chlamydia.
- In the first few months following treatment for initial infection, as many as 1 in 5 people will experience reinfection.
- If people experience reinfection after antibiotic treatment resulting in a negative test result, it is usually due to reinfection from a sexual partner.
If people have repeated positive test results after treatment, it may be due to false-positive results or treatment failure. Resistance to antibiotic treatment is rare in chlamydial infections. Repeat infections may occur at any time, but research suggests that most reinfections happen within the first 6 months after treatment.
- If people have had a positive test following treatment, but their medical history suggests it may be a false-positive, they can get a repeat test to confirm the result.
- People should abstain from sexual intercourse until they have received a negative TOC.
- Barrier methods of protection, such as condoms, can help prevent transmission and reinfection.
A 2020 article recommends that people who test positive for chlamydia will need to undergo another screening 3 months following treatment to test for a repeat infection. If chlamydia treatment is ineffective, the next steps may involve :
Asking sexual partners to get tested: Repeat infections are usually due to sex with a partner who has chlamydia but has not received treatment. Therefore, it is important for sexual partners to receive testing promptly. Asking sexual partners to go with them to receive treatment: When returning for testing or treatment, a person can bring their sexual partner or partners with them if possible so they can also receive testing and treatment. Getting a retest: Seeking a retest for both chlamydia and gonorrhea is important, as people at risk of chlamydia infections may also be at risk for gonorrhea. Being open: At the appointments, it is important for people to inform a healthcare professional about all sexual partners within the last 2 months.
If a chlamydial infection is persistent despite taking the above steps, a healthcare professional may recommend a combination therapy to treat a chronic chlamydia infection. Clinics or healthcare facilities can also educate people on minimizing the risk of recurrent infections and setting reminders that increase return rates for testing.
How do I know if my chlamydia is gone?
If you take the treatment according to the instructions, you won’t usually need a test to check the chlamydia has gone. If you’re aged under 25, you should be offered a repeat test 3 months after finishing the treatment. This is because you’re at a higher risk of getting chlamydia again.
Why am I still testing positive for chlamydia after treatment?
Background – Individuals diagnosed with Chlamydia trachomatis or Neisseria gonorrhoea are a known risk group for subsequent reinfection, Chlamydia remains the most commonly diagnosed bacterial sexually transmitted infection (STI) worldwide, despite the widespread availability of highly sensitive diagnostic technologies and highly effective single dose treatment for uncomplicated infection.
- Modelling studies suggest reinfection is likely to play a significant role in sustaining the global chlamydia epidemic, in turn highlighting the critical role that treating sexual partners plays in STI control.
- Chlamydial infection occasionally persists due to treatment failure, but repeat positivity upon retesting is most often due to reinfection from an untreated sexual partner or an infected new partner,
Undetected and untreated repeat infection can result in more serious long-term reproductive sequelae than an initial infection, with an estimated four-fold increased risk of pelvic inflammatory disease, a two-fold risk of ectopic pregnancy and a resultant higher risk of infertility,
Treating partners together with early detection and treatment of reinfection are therefore important to minimize harm and onward transmission, Testing for reinfection (rather than test of cure) at 3 months following treatment for both chlamydia and gonorrhoea is recommended in STI management guidelines,
If retesting at 3 months is not possible, some guidelines recommend retesting whenever care is next sought in the 12 months following treatment, A test of cure is no longer routinely recommended for these bacterial infections due to the high efficacy of first line treatments, but is advised in more limited circumstances including pregnancy, when second line treatments were used, treatment compliance is in question, or symptoms persist,
- Testing sooner than three to 5 weeks post-treatment for chlamydia or gonorrhoea is not recommended to avoid detection of residual nonviable organisms that can give a false-positive result,
- New Zealand has comparatively high rates of chlamydia with the burden of infection carried by young people (under 25 years), and particularly young Maori (the indigenous people of New Zealand) and Pacific peoples,
In 2014, chlamydia rates in New Zealand were 2092 and 3062 per 100,000 population for ages 15–19 and 20–24 respectively, By comparison, 2014 chlamydia rates in the US were 1804 and 2485 per 100,000 for ages 15–19 and 20–24, and in the UK, rates were 1708 and 2189 per 100,000 population for the same age-groups,
- While there is no national screening programme in New Zealand, opportunistic chlamydia screening is recommended for females under 25 years meeting various risk criteria, and others deemed ‘at risk’ (e.g.
- Two or more partners in the past 12 months, a recent partner change or inconsistent use of condoms),
Partner notification is recommended as part of chlamydia and gonorrhoea management using ‘patient referral’ as the preferred method, whereby patients are advised of the need to notify their sexual contacts of the past 2-months. If patient safety is a concern, ‘provider referral’ should be offered (the clinician notifies contacts with the patient’s consent),
New Zealand Sexual Health Society guidelines also recommend testing for reinfection at 3 months, and Ministry of Health chlamydia management guidelines recommend testing within three to 6 months, The present study was designed to assess the extent to which guideline recommendations regarding retesting are met in a defined geographical region of New Zealand.
Retesting rates within 6 months of a chlamydia or gonorrhoea diagnosis in primary care and sexual health clinics were analysed and demographic characteristics (age, ethnicity, gender) assessed to identify factors associated with receipt of retesting and repeat positivity.
Can you still have chlamydia after a week of antibiotics?
Does chlamydia stay in the body after it’s been cured? By | Sept.17, 2013, 2:58 p.m. Category: Does chylamedia stay in the body even if its been cured? Nope! Chlamydia is easily cured with antibiotics. Chlamydia is a bacterial infection (like strep throat or an ear infection), which means that once you’ve been treated and tested negative for it (to make sure the antibiotics worked), it’s gone.
- Your nurse or doctor will tell you exactly what type of antibiotics you need, and when to get tested again to make sure the antibiotics worked.
- The only way that chlamydia would stay in your body after you started treatment was if you didn’t take all of the prescribed medicine.
- That’s why it’s important to take all of it, even if symptoms go away before you finish the medication.
Both you and your partner(s) need to be treated for chlamydia before you have sex again, or you could get re-infected. Just like strep, you can get it many times in your life – getting treated for it once doesn’t mean you’re good for life. You can prevent the spread of chlamydia and other STDs by using condoms every time you have sex.
Why do I have to wait 7 days after chlamydia treatment?
When can I have sex again? – If you had doxycycline, you shouldn’t have sex – including vaginal, oral or anal sex, even with a condom – until both you and your partner(s) have completed treatment. If you had azithromycin, you should wait 7 days after treatment before having sex (including oral sex). This will help ensure you don’t pass on the infection or catch it again straight away.
Can you test negative for chlamydia after 2 weeks?
Although chlamydia is highly contagious, it does not always transmit to a person’s sexual partners. It is also possible to have a false-negative test result. Having more frequent sex with a partner who has chlamydia may increase a person’s risk of contracting it.
- Despite this, a person with chlamydia can have frequent sex without the infection passing to their partner.
- If a person takes a test too soon after exposure, they may have a false-negative result.
- They may need to repeat the test at a later date to get an accurate result.
- Read on to learn why one partner may test negative for chlamydia when the other tests positive.
If one partner tests positive for chlamydia and the other does not, there are a few possible explanations:
The positive test result could be incorrect. The negative test result could be incorrect. The chlamydia might not have transmitted from the person to their partner.
Simply knowing that one partner is positive and the other is negative does not reveal anything about the status of the relationship. Having different test results does not necessarily mean that one partner has been unfaithful. It also does not mean that the partner who tested negative is immune.
They might eventually develop chlamydia or another sexually transmitted infection (STI). A person will not contract chlamydia every time they have sex with someone with the infection. In a 2020 study, researchers developed a model for estimating how likely a person is to get chlamydia from a partner with the infection.
Using two different sets of data, this model gave the following per-partnership transmission rates:
male to female: 32.1% and 34.9%female to male: 21.4% and 4.6%
The study did not look at transmission rates between people of the same sex. Chlamydia spreads through sexual contact with bodily fluids containing the bacteria. Some types of sexual activities that can spread chlamydia include:
vaginal intercourseanal intercourseoral sex anal-oral contact
The infection can also pass from a pregnant person to an infant during pregnancy or birth, so treatment during pregnancy is particularly important. People with chlamydia often do not have symptoms. Being asymptomatic does not mean that a person does not have chlamydia.
- A person with a history of recent exposure to chlamydia should undergo testing.
- They should act as though they have the infection until a healthcare professional tells them otherwise.
- In some cases, a person may also have a false-negative test result.
- This can happen if they test too soon after exposure.
For example, if a person tests the day after sex with a partner who has chlamydia, the bacteria may not have had the chance to grow to detectable levels. It can take 5–14 days or more after exposure for a chlamydia test to be positive. Even when a person waits long enough, false negatives are fairly common.
A 2014 systematic review to update the United States Preventive Services Task Force guidelines for chlamydia screening suggests a false-negative rate in the range of 0–28%, However, the authors caution that the higher false-negative rates were due to study methodological limitations and may not indicate the actual false-negative rate.
Across all studies, regardless of study quality, the false-positive rate ranged from 0% to 2.9%. This means that if one partner tests positive and the other tests negative, it is more likely that the negative partner has an inaccurate test result. In many cases, it makes sense to treat both partners even when just one tests positive.
Talking about STIs can be uncomfortable and embarrassing. If one person tests positive and their partner does not, they may worry about infidelity. It is important to know that having different test results does not definitively mean this is the case. It can be helpful to discuss chlamydia with a healthcare professional to understand each partner’s risk.
Some topics to talk about with one another include:
whether both partners are and have been monogamousmutual reassurance and support a treatment planwhether and when to retest whether to abstain from sex and for how long
It can be confusing if one partner tests positive for chlamydia or another STI and the other does not. However, this can happen for many reasons, including false positives and false negatives. Even the most contagious STIs do not transmit from one partner to another every time they have sex.
Can chlamydia come back by itself?
Chlamydia Can Live in Your Gut And Reinfect You After You’re Cured For a nasty bug, it’s awfully pretty. Chlamydia is the most commonly reported sexually transmitted diseases in the United States. Thankfully, it’s also curable. But suggests that for some people, curing chlamydia doesn’t prevent reinfection, even if they’re not exposed to it again.
Apparently the disease can live inside your gut, and reinfect you out of the blue. Apparently doctors have known that chlamydia can reappear in cured patients for about 80 years, but they’ve been stumped as to how exactly it happens. This study points out that, in many animals, chlamydia has been found to live in the gastrointestinal tract.
“Thus, if gastrointestinal infection occurs in most hosts,” the authors write, “then it is very likely that gastrointestinal infection occurs in humans as well.” doesn’t actually test this theory on any human beings. Instead it looks at data in animal models about reinfection, and the failure of certain drugs to treat chlamydia when it lives in the gut.
- From there, they propose that women who are infected with chlamydia could see the same kind of issues: the drugs they’re given might cure the disease genitally, but not gastrointestinally, leaving the bug to live inside waiting for the right time to strike.
- That earlier studies suggest that women are more likely to see these spontaneously reoccurring infections.
Two things would explain that—treatment failures that could occur because of antibiotic resistance, or reinfection. Rank says that, though treatment failure in chlamydia is rising, in mice studies, antibiotics were much less effective on GI chlamydia than on genital chlamydia.
Rank suggests that women suffer self-reinfection at a higher rate than men for the same reason that they are more likely to have urinary tract infections. He says that alternative antibiotics or closer monitoring might be necessary to ensure a patient is cured. For those who have been treated for chlamydia, it’s probably not time to freak out just yet.
Reemergence is rare, and when chlamydia does come back, it’s still treatable. But if they do wind up with a repeat case, it might not be time to blame your partner for cheating just yet. Their guts could be playing tricks on you. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.
Why do I have to wait 3 weeks to get tested for chlamydia?
When Should I Get Tested for STDs? If you’re sexually active, you should be tested for STDs. After potential exposures, you may think it is best to get tested right away. But, there is actually a window period for STD testing. You can think of this window period as a waiting period, because once you’ve been exposed to or even infected with a STD, you won’t test positive right away.
How accurate is chlamydia test after 2 weeks?
How accurate are chlamydia and gonorrhoea tests? – The chlamydia test and gonorrhoea test are 99.9% accurate if you wait at least 2 weeks after having unprotected sex before testing.
Does it matter how long you have chlamydia?
If you believe you’ve been exposed to chlamydia, even if you don’t have any symptoms, the first thing you should do is get tested, And if your chlamydia test is positive, be confident that you are doing the right thing. Being tested means that you can be treated, and the proper treatment will help clear up a chlamydial infection in a matter of weeks.
- On the other hand, if you don’t get tested or don’t see a healthcare provider for treatment, chlamydia can live in the body for weeks, months, or even years without being detected.
- This can lead to long-term complications, including infertility.
- Read on to learn what chlamydia is, how it spreads, the symptoms, and when symptoms typically show,
I’ll also explain how long chlamydia lasts, what happens if it goes untreated, how long you have to wait to have sex after an infection, and if you can become immune to chlamydia.
What is the window period of chlamydia?
How Long Does It Take for Chlamydia to Show Up? – This is the most reported sexually transmitted infection in the United States. During the early stages of this disease, few infected individuals show signs and symptoms. These include pain and burning while peeing and while having sexual intercourse, bleeding between periods as well as abnormal vaginal discharges for women and pus/watery discharges from the penis.
How accurate is a chlamydia test after 7 days?
Chlamydia Testing – Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted bacteria-like infection passed through unsafe sex. Testing is easy and treatment with the proper medication can cure chlamydia. NOTE: Chlamydia and Gonorrhea should always be tested together. Many people have both of these infections at the same time.The symptoms can be identical.
If you only test for chlamydia and are negative for chlamydia but are actually infected with gonorrhea, gonorrhea will be missed. You could then develop complications such as infertility from the gonorrhea infection, and transmit gonorrhea to others without realizing that you have it. ALWAYS TEST FOR BOTH CHLAMYDIA AND GONORRHEA! Costs: $140 – Chlamydia & Gonorrhea Urine Test- Painless! $160 – Chlamydia, Gonorrhea and Syphilis Test Panel How Chlamydia testing is done Testing for chlamydia can be done with a simple, painless urine test or as part of a Pap smear.
Chlamydia tests can also be collected from the anus, throat or eye with a gentle swab if these locations had any contact with a partners infected secretions. Testing for chlamydia is most accurate 7-10 days or longer after sexual contact. However, chlamydia has been detected as early as 3-4 days after becoming infected, in some cases.
Discharge from the penis, often a very small amount. Vaginal secretion may seem normal, may be yellowish or spotting. Irritation or tingling with urination that comes and goes. Testicle aches or pains. Uterus aches or pains. Rectal irritation. Throat irritation. Eye irritation.
Who should test for chlamydia?
If you have any of the symptoms above after sexual contact with a partner you should test for chlamydia. If you’ve had unsafe sex with partners who’s sexual past is unknown you should test for chlamydia. If you have any doubts after sex, even if you have NO symptoms, you should test for chlamydia.
We have seen patients test positive for chlamydia without having any symptoms, even years after becoming infected! Test preparation: Please avoid urinating/peeing for 1 hour before giving us a urine sample – this makes the chlamydia test much more accurate.
Can you keep testing positive for chlamydia?
Just Diagnosed? Next Steps After Testing Positive for Gonorrhea or Chlamydia If you’ve just found out that you have or, you may be trying to figure out what to do next. Here are the three most important steps that you can take: What can happen if I don’t get treated for chlamydia or gonorrhea?
In women, untreated chlamydia or gonorrhea can cause (PID) which can lead to health problems like ectopic pregnancy () or (inability to get pregnant). In men, chlamydia and gonorrhea can cause a painful condition in the tubes attached to the testicles. In rare cases, this may prevent him from being able to have children. Untreated chlamydia or gonorrhea may also increase your chances of getting or giving – the virus that causes AIDS.
WHY? Many people with gonorrhea and chlamydia don’t have symptoms. Why does this matter? Because an untreated infection can lead to serious and permanent health problems, even if you never have symptoms. Gonorrhea and chlamydia can be cured with the right medicine from your doctor.
Just make sure you take all of your medicine exactly as your doctor tells you to. WHERE? Your regular doctor can prescribe antibiotics to cure the STD. But if you don’t have insurance or want to see someone else for treatment, there are other low-cost or free options. You can get tested and treated at your local health department’s STD clinic, a family planning clinic, a student health center, or an urgent care clinic.
You can also find a clinic using and ask if they offer treatment for gonorrhea and chlamydia. WHY? Your partner may also be infected and not know it and needs to get tested and treated. Left untreated, chlamydia and gonorrhea can cause serious health problems like PID, infertility, and potential deadly ectopic pregnancy.
Also, without treatment, your partner might pass the STD back to you. HOW? It may be emotionally uncomfortable, but telling your partners about STDs allows them to protect their health, too. Being diagnosed with an STD can cause many strong emotions. You may begin to question your trust in your partner or be worried that they will question their trust in you.
Before you blame anyone, know that STDs are common and don’t always cause symptoms. It is possible that you or your partner got the STD in a previous relationship without even knowing it. Keeping that in mind, talk to your partner as soon as possible. Be honest and straightforward.
During and after your talk, your partner may also have many strong emotions. The most helpful thing you can do is listen to your partner’s concerns and fears and offer information about the STD and its symptoms and treatment. Give your partner time to absorb this information. Help your partner understand that they may also have the STD.
Sometimes, no one knows for sure who had the infection first.
If you’re looking for tips on how to start the conversation with your partner, here are some resources that can help get you talking: WHERE? Just like you, your partner needs to receive medical care as soon as possible. There are a number of places and ways that your partner can get medicine for gonorrhea or chlamydia:
You can bring your partner to the clinic you went to. You can tell your partner to go to the clinic you went to. Your partner should tell clinic staff which infection you were diagnosed with. Sharing this information will help your partner get the correct tests and treatment. You may be able to get a prescription or medicine for both you and your partner from the clinic or from your doctor. This is called (EPT). Your partner can go to their own doctor or clinic (such as the local health department’s STD clinic, a family planning clinic, a student health center, or an urgent care clinic).
WHY? It’s common to get infected with gonorrhea and chlamydia again. Even if you and your partner took medicine, you should be retested in 3 months, A good way to remember is to set a notification on your phone or email, ask your doctor’s office or clinic to remind you, or scribble a note on your calendar—whatever you need to do to make sure you stay healthy! : Just Diagnosed? Next Steps After Testing Positive for Gonorrhea or Chlamydia
Can you test negative for chlamydia after 2 weeks?
Although chlamydia is highly contagious, it does not always transmit to a person’s sexual partners. It is also possible to have a false-negative test result. Having more frequent sex with a partner who has chlamydia may increase a person’s risk of contracting it.
- Despite this, a person with chlamydia can have frequent sex without the infection passing to their partner.
- If a person takes a test too soon after exposure, they may have a false-negative result.
- They may need to repeat the test at a later date to get an accurate result.
- Read on to learn why one partner may test negative for chlamydia when the other tests positive.
If one partner tests positive for chlamydia and the other does not, there are a few possible explanations:
The positive test result could be incorrect. The negative test result could be incorrect. The chlamydia might not have transmitted from the person to their partner.
Simply knowing that one partner is positive and the other is negative does not reveal anything about the status of the relationship. Having different test results does not necessarily mean that one partner has been unfaithful. It also does not mean that the partner who tested negative is immune.
- They might eventually develop chlamydia or another sexually transmitted infection (STI).
- A person will not contract chlamydia every time they have sex with someone with the infection.
- In a 2020 study, researchers developed a model for estimating how likely a person is to get chlamydia from a partner with the infection.
Using two different sets of data, this model gave the following per-partnership transmission rates:
male to female: 32.1% and 34.9%female to male: 21.4% and 4.6%
The study did not look at transmission rates between people of the same sex. Chlamydia spreads through sexual contact with bodily fluids containing the bacteria. Some types of sexual activities that can spread chlamydia include:
vaginal intercourseanal intercourseoral sex anal-oral contact
The infection can also pass from a pregnant person to an infant during pregnancy or birth, so treatment during pregnancy is particularly important. People with chlamydia often do not have symptoms. Being asymptomatic does not mean that a person does not have chlamydia.
- A person with a history of recent exposure to chlamydia should undergo testing.
- They should act as though they have the infection until a healthcare professional tells them otherwise.
- In some cases, a person may also have a false-negative test result.
- This can happen if they test too soon after exposure.
For example, if a person tests the day after sex with a partner who has chlamydia, the bacteria may not have had the chance to grow to detectable levels. It can take 5–14 days or more after exposure for a chlamydia test to be positive. Even when a person waits long enough, false negatives are fairly common.
A 2014 systematic review to update the United States Preventive Services Task Force guidelines for chlamydia screening suggests a false-negative rate in the range of 0–28%, However, the authors caution that the higher false-negative rates were due to study methodological limitations and may not indicate the actual false-negative rate.
Across all studies, regardless of study quality, the false-positive rate ranged from 0% to 2.9%. This means that if one partner tests positive and the other tests negative, it is more likely that the negative partner has an inaccurate test result. In many cases, it makes sense to treat both partners even when just one tests positive.
- Talking about STIs can be uncomfortable and embarrassing.
- If one person tests positive and their partner does not, they may worry about infidelity.
- It is important to know that having different test results does not definitively mean this is the case.
- It can be helpful to discuss chlamydia with a healthcare professional to understand each partner’s risk.
Some topics to talk about with one another include:
whether both partners are and have been monogamousmutual reassurance and support a treatment planwhether and when to retest whether to abstain from sex and for how long
It can be confusing if one partner tests positive for chlamydia or another STI and the other does not. However, this can happen for many reasons, including false positives and false negatives. Even the most contagious STIs do not transmit from one partner to another every time they have sex.
How do you know if chlamydia is gone after treatment?
If you take the treatment according to the instructions, you won’t usually need a test to check the chlamydia has gone. If you’re aged under 25, you should be offered a repeat test 3 months after finishing the treatment. This is because you’re at a higher risk of getting chlamydia again.
Why do I have to wait 7 days after chlamydia treatment?
When can I have sex again? – If you had doxycycline, you shouldn’t have sex – including vaginal, oral or anal sex, even with a condom – until both you and your partner(s) have completed treatment. If you had azithromycin, you should wait 7 days after treatment before having sex (including oral sex). This will help ensure you don’t pass on the infection or catch it again straight away.
How accurate is chlamydia test after 2 weeks?
How accurate are chlamydia and gonorrhoea tests? – The chlamydia test and gonorrhoea test are 99.9% accurate if you wait at least 2 weeks after having unprotected sex before testing.