WOMEN: COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT GONORRHOEA, CHLAMYDIA AND PELVIC INFLAMMATORY DISEASE (PID).

Who’s at risk of catching these infections?

Anyone who’s at risk of catching any other sexually transmitted disease. Infection is more likely in those who have more than one sexual partner or whose partners have other partners. Women whose partners are infected but don’t develop symptoms of urethritis are at particular risk because both go untreated. All women with a diagnosis of PID should make sure that their partners are checked to avoid reinfection.

Infection of newborn babies

Babies can be infected from their mothers during birth. Studies of pregnant women in the USA have found that from one in twenty up to one in five (in some districts) have chlamydial infections of the cervix. About one in four babies born to infected mothers will develop chlamydial conjunctivitis (eye infection) within two weeks of birth, and some of these babies will go on to develop pneumonia. Gonorrhoea transmitted from mother to baby during birth can cause serious eye infection in newborn infants, and occasionally throat infection and vaginal discharge.

How are these infections diagnosed?

The symptoms may be suspicious, but the diagnosis can only be confirmed for certain by laboratory tests and even that isn’t always easy. Your doctor will take a swab from any areas that could be infected, including rectum and throat if these have been in contact with your partner’s penis. The swab is wiped onto a glass slide to be examined under the microscope, and is then used to try to grow (culture) any germs that could be causing the infection. A urine test for chlamydia is proving to be a very reliable method of identifying the infection.

If you go to an STD or sexual health clinic, your doctor may examine the microscope slide straight away. Something may be found to strengthen suspicion enough for treatment to be started without waiting for the results of cultures, which can take from two days to two weeks to be ready. However, growing the bacteria is the only way to be certain about an infection, and the germs that have been grown can be tested for sensitivity to various antibiotics to make sure that whatever treatment you’re given will work. You will always be asked to contact your doctor when all the results are back from the laboratory, to confirm that you’re having the right treatment and in case further tests are needed.

When your partner has a proven infection, you will be given treatment even if it has not been possible to grow the bacteria from your swabs.

If you need tests for gonorrhoea or chlamydia you may also be offered tests for other STDs such as syphilis, hepatitis В and HIV. These may need to be repeated at a later date because it can take up to three months after they are acquired for these infections to show up in tests. The possibility that your sexual partner(s) may be infected will also be discussed.

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