Chlamydia infection. Urogenital chlamydiasis. Symptoms. Treatment of chlamydiasis.

Urogenital chlamydiasis is an infectious disease caused by chlamydiae, essentially sexually transmitted and affecting the urogenital tract and other organs. The share of chlamydia infection in the entire spectrum of the urogenital infections amounts to 3-30%. The frequency of finding chlamydia in gynecological patients ranges from 20% to 40%. Population screenings reveal chlamydia in 5-10% of sexually active adults. Chlamydia may cause mixed infections with a number of infecting agents (trichomonadas, gonococci, ureaplasmas, gardnerellas etc.).

Chlamydia infection is asymptomatic in 46% males and 67% females. Thus chlamydia carriers with latent infection are inevitably present among the persons who consider themselves healthy. Lack of clinical manifestations does not mean that chlamydia does not affect the system. Chlamydia is especially harmful for the reproductive system of females. Chlamydia infection treatment

Chlamydiae commonly affect the cells of the columnar epithelium in the urogenital tract, respiratory tract, and conjunctiva. Chlamydia infection is characterized by a vague clinical picture. Among the commonest symptoms are the following: cervicitis: specific purulent mucous discharge without offensive odor, swollen, hyperemic neck of the womb; urethritis: difficult urination, itching feeling, scarce discharge; salpingitis: pains in lower abdomen, intensification of the whites before menstruation, sterility due to obstruction of the tubes; chronic prostatitis: pains in the perineum, frequent urge to pass water and painful urination; vulvovestibulovaginitis in girls of pubic age: frequent urination, itching feeling in genitals, discharge; chronic recurrent diseases of the upper respiratory system: frequent colds with complications and persistent cough; pneumonia in neonates: chronic course of the disease without fever, accompanied by fits of a whooping cough-like coughing with dyspnea and cyanosis, developing during the 4-10 week after birth; conjunctivitis: a chronic catarrhal or follicular form with 3-4 yearly exacerbations in adults, frequently healing unattended; in neonates occurs on the 5-10^th day after birth with an acute or subacute onset in a papillar form with purulent discharge without lesion of cornea; Reiter’s syndrome: is characterized by the triad of symptoms – arthritis, urethritis, conjunctivitis; develops in males of 16-35 years of age, implies a hereditary susceptibility; proctitis – mucous discharge from the colon, anorectal pains; epididymitis: inflammation of the epididymis – swollen testicles, pains in the scrotum, fever in acute cases.

Chlamydia infection treatment