Curing chlamydia takes just one dose of an antibiotic, but it’s hard to cure Minnesota’s most common sexually transmitted infection when more than three of four victims don’t know they have it.
Here in Minnesota, chlamydia rates have increased 65 percent over the past decade.
It has had the greatest impact on young adults ages 15 – 25 across all genders, race and geographical groups.
While not the most fun conversation, it's an important one to have with your partner or growing children.
Listen in Dr. Amanda Ye helps you start that conversation.
Selected Podcast
Chlamydia: Hard to Spell, Easy to Contract
Featured Speaker:
Amanda Ye, MD – OB/GYN
Amanda Ye, MD, is a board-certified obstetrics and gynecology physician practicing at Allina Health Maplewood Clinic. Her professional interests include women's health, infertility, contraception, gynecologic surgery and sexually transmitted diseases. Transcription:
Melanie Cole (Host): Curing chlamydia takes just one dose of antibiotic, but it’s hard to cure Minnesota’s most common sexually transmitted infection when more than three to four victims don’t even know that they have it. Here in Minnesota, chlamydia rates have increased 65 percent over the past decade, and it’s had the greatest impact on young adults aged 15 to 25 across all genders, races, and geographical locations. While it’s not the most fun conversation to have, it’s certainly an important one to have with your partner or growing children. My guest today is Dr. Amanda Ye. She’s a board certified obstetrics and gynecology physician practicing at Allina Health Maplewood Clinic. Welcome to the show, Dr. Ye. Tell us a little bit about chlamydia. What is it, and why don’t people that have it even know that they have it?
Dr. Amanda Ye (Guest): Thank you for inviting me. Chlamydia is a bacterial infection. It is the most common sexually transmitted disease in young women and men, and unfortunately, many women don’t know of it because most symptoms are vague or may not be present.
Melanie: What would signal somebody to even know that they have anything like this? Is it similar in some ways to other sexually transmitted infections?
Dr. Ye: Some women may have symptoms such as abnormal bleeding, vaginal discharge, maybe some pain with urination, or pain in the anal area. Yes, it can be very similar to other infections such as gonorrhea, trichomonas, or another common infection called bacterial vaginosis.
Melanie: If there are no symptoms, why would we even go see a doctor to get tested for it?
Dr. Ye: Well, there can be serious consequences to women down the road if they are not treated. The vaginal infection can go up the genital tract and cause pelvic inflammatory disease or PID. This can cause complications with future fertility and also cause ectopic pregnancy. And if a pregnant patient is untreated, she can also pass this on to her infant and cause infant pneumonia or eye infections that in some cases cause blindness.
Melanie: Who is at risk for chlamydia, Dr. Ye?
Dr. Ye: This disease is most common in young women and men. In women, it is very prevalent in the age group of 13 to 25, and in men, it is most prevalent in men between the age of 20 to 25. The age group is a little bit older in men.
Melanie: Okay, so if you’re at risk for chlamydia and you have unprotected sex or you’re in those numbers that you just spoke about, what do you recommend as far as screening for it or getting tested for it? Do you think we should get tested once a year, just when you go in for your gynecological exam? What about men? Who will test them?
Dr. Ye: Well, we really recommend annual screening. This is because women may not have symptoms. Really, routine screening annually is a good guideline. Also, we should screen anybody who may have risk factors or who may have some symptoms that is suggestive of the infection. Right now, we do annual screening in young women who are less than 25. As far as I’m aware, there is no recommended screening in young men yet annually, but we should screen anybody who is at risk of the infection.
Melanie: Who would you recommend young men go get tested from?
Dr. Ye: They can go to their doctor, or they can go to a free clinic if they have no insurance. And if they have a partner with known infection, they can actually be treated without being seen. Here in Minnesota, we have a way of treating the partners. It’s called the expedited treatment protocol. So if their partner has confirmed diagnosis of chlamydia, the partner’s physician can actually write a prescription for them.
Melanie: What is the treatment for chlamydia? It seems to be very curable, but what’s the treatment involved? Then, after you’ve done the treatment, Dr. Ye, do you get tested again to see if you still have it?
Dr. Ye: The treatment is quite simple. It is treated by antibiotic. The most common antibiotic is azithromycin. It is a one-time treatment, so it’s azithromycin 1000 mg and a one-time dose. It’s quite easy to get treated. There are still other antibiotics that we can use if you have allergy to this antibiotic, which is doxycycline. This is treated with a one-week course of antibiotic using doxycycline. After treatment, it is not necessary to be retested because the effectiveness of the antibiotic treatment is so great. However, it is recommended to retest in three months because there is a high rate of reinfection.
Melanie: What about sexual activity during treatment?
Dr. Ye: We do not recommend sexual activity for a week after the treatment. If you take the azithromycin on day 1, you should avoid any sexual activity for seven days and make sure that your partner has also been treated.
Melanie: Give us your best advice, Dr. Ye, for prevention of chlamydia.
Dr. Ye: Use of condoms is recommended to prevent this and other sexually transmitted infections. Other recommendations will be to consider your sexual partner carefully because some risk factors for this infection is having more than one sexual partner or with a partner that has previously had this infection.
Melanie: In just the last minute or two, Dr. Ye, give the listeners your best advice on starting the conversation about chlamydia and other sexually transmitted infections for their grown children or with their partners on the ways to prevent them. Because that’s really the key, isn’t it?
Dr. Ye: Yes. It’s a difficult topic to discuss with your children, just like discussing about sexual health. It is a very difficult topic, but I think it’s important to stress to your children that this infection is prevalent and, in a lot of cases, there are no symptoms but there are very serious consequences, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, chronic abdominal and pelvic pain in the future. The cost of this infection is very great down the road for young women if they are untreated. So I think it’s important to talk about this with your children.
Melanie: Thank you so much. You’re listening to the WELLcast with Allina Health. For more information, you can go to allinahealth.org. That’s allinahealth.org. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening and have a great day.
Melanie Cole (Host): Curing chlamydia takes just one dose of antibiotic, but it’s hard to cure Minnesota’s most common sexually transmitted infection when more than three to four victims don’t even know that they have it. Here in Minnesota, chlamydia rates have increased 65 percent over the past decade, and it’s had the greatest impact on young adults aged 15 to 25 across all genders, races, and geographical locations. While it’s not the most fun conversation to have, it’s certainly an important one to have with your partner or growing children. My guest today is Dr. Amanda Ye. She’s a board certified obstetrics and gynecology physician practicing at Allina Health Maplewood Clinic. Welcome to the show, Dr. Ye. Tell us a little bit about chlamydia. What is it, and why don’t people that have it even know that they have it?
Dr. Amanda Ye (Guest): Thank you for inviting me. Chlamydia is a bacterial infection. It is the most common sexually transmitted disease in young women and men, and unfortunately, many women don’t know of it because most symptoms are vague or may not be present.
Melanie: What would signal somebody to even know that they have anything like this? Is it similar in some ways to other sexually transmitted infections?
Dr. Ye: Some women may have symptoms such as abnormal bleeding, vaginal discharge, maybe some pain with urination, or pain in the anal area. Yes, it can be very similar to other infections such as gonorrhea, trichomonas, or another common infection called bacterial vaginosis.
Melanie: If there are no symptoms, why would we even go see a doctor to get tested for it?
Dr. Ye: Well, there can be serious consequences to women down the road if they are not treated. The vaginal infection can go up the genital tract and cause pelvic inflammatory disease or PID. This can cause complications with future fertility and also cause ectopic pregnancy. And if a pregnant patient is untreated, she can also pass this on to her infant and cause infant pneumonia or eye infections that in some cases cause blindness.
Melanie: Who is at risk for chlamydia, Dr. Ye?
Dr. Ye: This disease is most common in young women and men. In women, it is very prevalent in the age group of 13 to 25, and in men, it is most prevalent in men between the age of 20 to 25. The age group is a little bit older in men.
Melanie: Okay, so if you’re at risk for chlamydia and you have unprotected sex or you’re in those numbers that you just spoke about, what do you recommend as far as screening for it or getting tested for it? Do you think we should get tested once a year, just when you go in for your gynecological exam? What about men? Who will test them?
Dr. Ye: Well, we really recommend annual screening. This is because women may not have symptoms. Really, routine screening annually is a good guideline. Also, we should screen anybody who may have risk factors or who may have some symptoms that is suggestive of the infection. Right now, we do annual screening in young women who are less than 25. As far as I’m aware, there is no recommended screening in young men yet annually, but we should screen anybody who is at risk of the infection.
Melanie: Who would you recommend young men go get tested from?
Dr. Ye: They can go to their doctor, or they can go to a free clinic if they have no insurance. And if they have a partner with known infection, they can actually be treated without being seen. Here in Minnesota, we have a way of treating the partners. It’s called the expedited treatment protocol. So if their partner has confirmed diagnosis of chlamydia, the partner’s physician can actually write a prescription for them.
Melanie: What is the treatment for chlamydia? It seems to be very curable, but what’s the treatment involved? Then, after you’ve done the treatment, Dr. Ye, do you get tested again to see if you still have it?
Dr. Ye: The treatment is quite simple. It is treated by antibiotic. The most common antibiotic is azithromycin. It is a one-time treatment, so it’s azithromycin 1000 mg and a one-time dose. It’s quite easy to get treated. There are still other antibiotics that we can use if you have allergy to this antibiotic, which is doxycycline. This is treated with a one-week course of antibiotic using doxycycline. After treatment, it is not necessary to be retested because the effectiveness of the antibiotic treatment is so great. However, it is recommended to retest in three months because there is a high rate of reinfection.
Melanie: What about sexual activity during treatment?
Dr. Ye: We do not recommend sexual activity for a week after the treatment. If you take the azithromycin on day 1, you should avoid any sexual activity for seven days and make sure that your partner has also been treated.
Melanie: Give us your best advice, Dr. Ye, for prevention of chlamydia.
Dr. Ye: Use of condoms is recommended to prevent this and other sexually transmitted infections. Other recommendations will be to consider your sexual partner carefully because some risk factors for this infection is having more than one sexual partner or with a partner that has previously had this infection.
Melanie: In just the last minute or two, Dr. Ye, give the listeners your best advice on starting the conversation about chlamydia and other sexually transmitted infections for their grown children or with their partners on the ways to prevent them. Because that’s really the key, isn’t it?
Dr. Ye: Yes. It’s a difficult topic to discuss with your children, just like discussing about sexual health. It is a very difficult topic, but I think it’s important to stress to your children that this infection is prevalent and, in a lot of cases, there are no symptoms but there are very serious consequences, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, chronic abdominal and pelvic pain in the future. The cost of this infection is very great down the road for young women if they are untreated. So I think it’s important to talk about this with your children.
Melanie: Thank you so much. You’re listening to the WELLcast with Allina Health. For more information, you can go to allinahealth.org. That’s allinahealth.org. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening and have a great day.