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is one of the most common
Sexually Transmitted Infection s worldwide — about four million cases of chlamydia occur in the
United States each year. Not all people exhibit symptoms of chlamydia. About half of all men and three-quarters of all women who have chlamydia have no symptoms and do not know that they are infected. The infection is transmitted by the ''
Chlamydia Trachomatis ''
Bacterium . It can be serious but it is easily cured if detected in time. It is also, and possibly more importantly, the biggest ''preventable'' cause of
Blindness in the world. Blindness occurs as a complication of '''
Trachoma ''' (chlamydia conjunctivitis).
Almost half of all women who get chlamydia and aren't treated by a
Doctor will get
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), a generic term for infection of the
Uterus ,
Fallopian Tubes , and/or
Ovaries . PID can cause scarring inside the
Reproductive Organ s, which can later cause serious complications, including chronic
Pelvic pain, difficulty becoming
Pregnant ,
Ectopic (tubal) Pregnancy , and other dangerous complications of pregnancy. Chlamydia causes 250,000 to 500,000 cases of PID every year in the U.S.
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In women, chlamydia may not cause any l bleeding or discharge, pain in the abdomen, painful
Sexual Intercourse ,
Fever , painful
Urination or the urge to urinate more frequently than usual.
In men, chlamydia may not cause any symptoms, but symptoms that may occur include: a painful or burning sensation when urinating, an unusual discharge from the
Penis , swollen or tender
Testicle s, or fever.
Chlamydia in men can spread to the testicles, causing
Epididymitis , which can cause
Sterility . Chlamydia causes more than 250,000 cases of epididymitis in the USA each year.
Chlamydia may also cause
Reiter's Syndrome , a form of
Arthritis , especially in young men. About 15,000 men get Reiter's Syndrome from chlamydia each year in the USA, and about 5,000 are permanently affected by it.
As many as half of all
Infant s born to mothers with chlamydia will be born with the disease. Chlamydia can affect infants by causing spontaneous abortion (
Miscarriage ),
Premature Birth ,
Blindness , and
Pneumonia .
Fortunately, chlamydia can be effectively cured with
Antibiotic s once it is detected. Current
Centers For Disease Control guidelines provide for the following treatments:
Because chlamydia is so common and because it often doesn't produce symptoms, it is especially important to take precautions against sexually transmitted infections by practicing
Safer Sex .
Chlamydiae replicate intracellularly, within a membrane-bound structure termed an inclusion. It is inside this inclusion, which somehow avoids lysosomal fusion and subsequent degradation, that the metabolically inactive "elementary body" (EB) form of Chlamydia becomes the replicative "reticulate body" (RB). The multiplying RBs then become EBs again and burst out of the host cell to continue the infection cycle. Since Chlamydiae are obligate intracellular parasites, they cannot be cultured outside of host cells, leading to many difficulties in research.
''
Chlamydia Trachomatis '' can cause the following conditions:
An outbreak of the human-borne sexually-transmitted disease was discovered in penguins at the San Francisco Zoo in May, 2005. Officials said that the disease was probably first contracted in February of that year, and was not sexually-transmitted. One theory links the outbreak to seagull droppings, but the actual cause remains unknown. Twelve penguins died from the disease, while fifty-five survived. See
Chlamydia strikes penguin colony for more information.
Chlamydia has also become a problem in
Koala populations.
