Chlamydia 'Hard To Avoid' Without Abstinence, Monogamy, Opinion Piece Says

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 05 Mar 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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Chlamydia is a "silent disease" that is "spreading through the nation, with a record 1.1 million cases reported in the last federal prevalence report," Washington Times columnist Cheryl Wetzstein writes. Wetzstein writes that she called Jennifer Shuford, director of applied science and an infectious disease specialist at the Medical Institute for Sexual Health in Texas, to learn more about the sexually transmitted infection. Shuford said that chlamydia is the No. 1 reported bacterial STI and that it is especially prevalent in the U.S. among youth younger than age 25. Within one week of infection, chlamydia can rise through the female reproductive tract and lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, Wetzstein writes. Over weeks or months, PID can slowly scar the reproductive tract, creating "devastating" results, according to Wetzstein. "The fallopian tubes, for instance, can be so damaged that eggs can't make it from the ovary to the uterus," she writes, adding, "Sometimes that means infertility; sometimes it means dangerous ectopic pregnancies."

Shuford said that both chlamydia and PID often have no symptoms, adding that 80% to 90% of women with PID report that they don't recall feeling anything. In addition, if a woman feels that something is wrong, it could be attributed to other causes, such as menstrual pain or indigestion. Shuford noted that as many as two million chlamydia cases are unreported, meaning that "countless men and women go untreated -- and quietly transmit the infection," according to Wetzstein. About 10% to 40% of untreated chlamydia infections will end in PID, meaning that about 100,000 of the one million women treated for PID annually will end up infertile, Shuford said. However, with standard treatment, chlamydia can be easily cured, she added.

Wetzstein writes that "outside of abstinence or sex with only a monogamous, infection-free partner," chlamydia "will be hard to avoid." She continues, "Countless young people won't even discover their damaged reproductive system until they are trying to conceive and it doesn't happen." Untreated chlamydia can lead to sterility in men, according to Wetzstein (Wetzstein, Washington Times, 3/1).

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