A Scottish study has shown that it is crucial to ensure that partners get treated for chlamydia when their sexual partner has a positive chlamydia test.
The researchers have said that for partners, though going to a GUM clinic for a check-up is still the best option, vouchers for treatment should be considered as an option. They hope this would encourage people who are too embarrassed to go to a clinic to get treated.
For the study, the team gave out nearly 600 vouchers to people who had been diagnosed with chlamydia. The majority of these were women. The vouchers entitled their partners to go to their local pharmacy and receive a free dose of antibiotics, without them having to pay any prescription charges or visit a clinic to themselves have a chlamydia test.
40% of the vouchers handed out were redeemed, mostly within a few days. 4% of the partners chose instead to go to a GUM clinic in person (or at least, one of the GUM clinics being tracked by the team working on the study. The team do not know whether the remaining partners visited their own GP for treatment.
Chlamydia is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections in the UK and the US, with gonorrhoea also very common. Both are often asymptomatic and often unless someone has a chlamydia or gonorrhoea test, they will be unaware they are infection. This makes it likely that they will pass the infection on to their partner.
In the US in certain states, they have a system where when someone has a positive STD test, they are given spare antibiotics which they can then give to their partner. This is not legal in the UK.
However, there have been some concerns raised about the feasibility and efficacy of a voucher system for treating partners of people who have had a positive diagnosis.
There are fears that such cavalier handing out of antibiotics could lead to resistance developing to antibiotics. There are already concerns that the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhoea is becoming a superbug and currently people having a positive gonorrhoea test are being advised to have a re-test after treatment is completed.
However at the moment, the potential for chlamydia to become resistant to antibiotics is relatively remote, compared to the potential benefits of the scheme. Certainly if more people got treated for it then health officials would stand a better chance of reducing the sky-high infection rates.
Lead author of the study Dr. Sharon Cameron, of the Dean Terrace Centre in Edinborough, Scotland, said, "Partners may not feel they have an STI (sexually transmitted infection. They might be embarrassed to go to a clinic. ( This system) gives individuals another option of where they would want to go be treated."
Chlamydia is the worldwide most common infection which you can get through sexual transmission. The bacterium that causes this infection is called Chlamydia Trachomatis, which infects the eye and the human genitals. Approximately 2.3 million people in the United States are infected with these bacteria. In humans, this is the most common sexually transmitted disease which can be found living in the cells. The transmission of this infection occurs during oral, anal, or vaginal sex. This can also be transmitted from pregnant mother to the child during vaginal birth.
Women usually do not experience any symptoms of the infection if they are infected in the neck or the womb. In men, the infection is generally symptomatic with a white discharge from the tip of the penis either with or without pain during urination. The condition also extends to upper genital tract in women and to epididymis in men. If this infection is untreated, the damages can include very serious health dilemma and reproductive issues with short or long term problems. This infection can be treated with antibiotics as prescribed by a medical professional. This infection is one of the most common reasons why there is an increased rate of blindness in the world.
The infection in the womb's neck is normally asymptomatic sexually transmitted disease in majority of the women. It is not easily identified by the health practitioner, which can lead to PID or pelvic inflammatory disease. The PID is a standard name for infection of fallopian tubes, ovaries or uterus. The infection causes a scaring in the reproductive organ that can cause complications grave in nature for pregnancy. It is generally termed as "silent epidemic" in females and can go unnoticed for a long time. Some of the signs of Chlamydia are unusual discharge or bleeding, abdominal pain, pain during sexual intercourse, pain during urination, fever and the urge to urinate frequently. In men, it is usually a cloudy, white of watery discharge at the tips of the penis. Other symptoms in men include swollen and tender testicles and burning sensation during urination. This infection spreads from one eye to another through fingers, clothes or shared towels, sneezing, and coughing. This is why it is extremely important for you to have regular checkups at STD testing centers.
In women who are sexually active and not pregnant, screening will be suggested to check the risk for infection. If the female is pregnant, then the guidelines for screening differ. The common risk factors which are stated are history of Chlamydia infection, having various sexual partners, and using inconsistent condoms. ?-lactams cannot be used to treat Chlamydia even though they can stop the growth because the bacteria are not eliminated. The bacteria will continue to grow once the treatment has stopped.
Latest studies reveal that Chlamydia has a common precursor with plants and has the unusual plant traits. The L-diaminopimelate aminotransferase enzyme which relates to lysine production is associated with the Chlamydia's cell wall construction. This will help in developing new treatments for this infection. If the scientists find an efficient and safe inhibitor of the enzyme, then we might have a very good antibiotic which can cure the infection.