Chlamydia Treatment

Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted infection. You get it by having unprotected sex (vaginal, anal or oral); or from your genitals coming into contact with a sexual partner’s genitals; or from sharing sex toys without washing them or covering them with a condom each time they are used. It is caused by a type of bacteria called Chlamydia trachomatis that lives in semen and vaginal fluids. 

Chlamydia normally infects the genitals, but it can also infect the rectum, eyes or throat.

Risk if untreated – if left untreated, Chlamydia can cause very serious health problems. In women this includes pelvic inflammatory disease, which can cause infertility (not being able to have children) and increased risk of miscarriage. In men, Chlamydia can result in infertility (not being able to have children), swollen testicles (orchitis), and reactive arthritis (inflammation of the joints).

Simple antibiotic treatment – you can treat Chlamydia very easily with a single course of antibiotics. These antibiotics contain the infection and stop it reproducing, so that your body’s immune system can fight off the infection.

95% of people who take their antibiotics according to the prescription’s instructions find that this successfully gets rid of the Chlamydia infection.

Treatment can be different for certain people – your doctor might suggest a different type of antibiotic if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or if you seem to have had Chlamydia for a long time. You must complete the course of antibiotics, even if your symptoms seem to have cleared up.

Telephone consultation – if you would like personalised advice or have any questions about chlamydia, you can book a telephone consultation with one of our doctors.

Side effects – the most common side effects of Azithromycin are nausea, diarrhoea, stomach ache and vaginal thrush. Occasionally, you might get a rash as a side effect from doxycycline if you are exposed to too much light.

Alternative treatments – your doctor might suggest a different type of antibiotic if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or if you seem to have had Chlamydia for a long time. Ofloxacin and Erythromycin are other common antibiotics.

Contacting partners – if a test shows that you’ve got Chlamydia, you should contact recent sexual partners (anyone from the last six months) and let them know. The NHS has specialist sexual health advisors who can help you do this, or who can offer to do it for you if you’d prefer not to have the conversation yourself.

Yes, you can still pass on Chlamydia even if you are being treated – this is because the treatment hasn’t killed off enough of the bacteria to make you non-contagious. 

Having sex – we don’t recommend that you have sex, even with a condom, for a week after you finish your treatment. This might mean that you wait for a week to have sex after having a one-day course of Azithromycin or you wait until a week after your seven day course of Doxycycline has finished. If your partner also has Chlamydia, you shouldn’t have sex until seven days after you have both finished the treatment. Otherwise, you risk catching/passing on the infection again.

If you do decide to have sex in the first week of treatment anyway, use a condom and take other measures (such as washing sex toys before sharing) to prevent transmitting the infection.

You should take the tablets exactly as they have been prescribed – if you are on a seven-day course, try to take them at around the same time every day. If you think you are likely to forget to take tablets twice a day for a week, you could ask for a one-day course of treatment. 

Avoid sex – to look after yourself, you should not have sex, even with a condom, within 7 days of finishing the Chlamydia treatment. This increases the chance of you passing it on or catching it again. Try to eat normally and drink lots of fluids to help your body fight off the infection. 

Improving any symptoms – most people don’t notice any symptoms when they get Chlamydia. You might have noticed some pain (especially when urinating) or abnormal bleeding (if you are a woman), however. You can take over-the-counter painkillers such as paracetamol or ibuprofen if the pain bothers you. Make sure you read and follow the instructions of these over-the-counter painkillers. 

When to get more help – if you take the full course of antibiotics, the Chlamydia infection should clear up after a week. Go to a sexual health clinic or seek advice from a nurse or doctor if any of these things happen: 

• You have sex, even with a condom, within a week of your Chlamydia treatment 
• You miss a tablet
• You were pregnant when you started treatment 
• The symptoms of Chlamydia didn’t stop a week after your treatment