Here is a brief overview on the most common bacterial STI in humans.
Promiscuous individuals be warned, there are a
number of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) out there for you to most
probably harvest if you are not being a bit smart enough to be safe or let’s
say shift to celibacy. Hence, individuals
who are sexually active and have multiple sex partners are especially at risk
for this disease. Moving on, one of these STIs is the so called Chlamydia,
also known as “the clam”, or “gooey stuff”. The latter actually originated from
the cloudy mucus or watery discharges from the genitals of infected people.
What is Chlamydia?
The term Chlamydial infection can also refer to
infection caused by any species belonging to the bacterial family Chlamydiaceae. Chlamydia was once mistaken
to as Gonorrhoea, since they have somewhat similar symptoms, until a certain
kind of eye infection, known as trachoma, was identified as a symptom.
Chlamydia is a major infectious cause of human genital and eye disease.
Chlamydia infection is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections
worldwide — it is estimated that about 2.3 million individuals in the United
States are infected with chlamydia.
What happens when a person is infected?
This kind of infection produces non-gonococcal urethritis which includes difficulty or painful urination, and a clear, odorless, sticky discharge coming from the male or female genitals, as mentioned earlier. It also causes a rheumatological condition such as reactive arthritis (reiter’s syndrome). It is a triad of arthritis, conjunctivitis (inflammation of the conjunctiva of the eyes), and urethritis (inflammation of the urethra). Although this symptom is said to be especially common in young men, it can still occur in both sexes. |
| Conjunctivitis caused by Chlamydia. Image from Wikipedia.org |
Can a mother with Chlamydia pass this on to her baby?
Yes. It is said that infants
born to mothers with the said infection would more likely carry the disease.
Prenatal infections would include spontaneous abortion; premature
birth; conjunctivitis
(this usually occurs one week after birth, and may
lead to blindness); and pneumonia.
What causes Chlamydia?
The causative agent of this infection is known as chlamydia trachomatis which is an intracellular obligate organism, this
means that this organism can only live inside the cells; C. trachomatis is only found in humans.
How is this transmitted?
The mode of transmission is commonly through sexual contact (since this
is a sexually transmitted infection). The incubation period usually takes place
2-3 weeks upon infection. If the infection is left untreated for a long period
of time, this would possibly lead to serious complications. Such complications
would include cervicitisin in women, abortion
during pregnancy as mentioned previously, and trachoma or blindness.
How can this be diagnosed?
Chlamidial infection could be
detected through a diagnostic test which would require isolation of the
organism in a tissue culture.
Is there any treatment for Clams?
Yes, there is. The infection could be treated easily upon accurate
diagnosis through the use of antibiotics such as Tetracycline and Acithromycin.
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