[Question #11926] Chlamydia = chronic?
11 months ago
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Good Morning,
I currently live in Kazakhstan. A few months ago my physician diagnosed with positive with chlamydia after i hit 2.37 on an IGM test. About a week later i went to another clinic to receive a urethral swab and the test came out negative. I still took the medication because my partner was experience symptoms of inflamation and discharging blood. She was also prescribed her own medication for treatment however when they took a pcr swab test of her vagina, she also tested negative.
About a month later we both went for blood and pcr and we both came out negative for igm, igg, and pcr but our iga was showing it as positive.
The symptoms went away and her most recent gynecologist said that she no longer has chlamydia but that it is a chronic disease that can become accute at any time. Two other gynecologist said the same thing. All the research i've seen online says that is false but now she thinks that this disaese will stay with her forever.
We decided the best method is to contact some experts to shed some light on the situation so we came to you three. I want to be able to lift this mental burden from her mind. Is chlamydia chronic even after treatment or can it be cured??
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
11 months ago
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Welcome to our Forum. Thanks for your questions and for your confidence in our service. I'll be glad to comment.
The preferred tests for detection of chlamydia infections are PCR tests performed on specimens taken from the genital tract or other possible sites of infection (the mouth/oral cavity or rectum if those sites have been sexually exposed) using swabs or urine, not blood tests. In particular, blood tests measuring antibodies to chlamydia are considered possibly inaccurate, often providing falsely positive test results. If I were you I would not trust blood test results. IgG, IgM and IgA can remain present long after an infection is treated. Falsely positive results are quite common with IgM tests.
I cannot be sure whether or not you or your partner had chlamydia but if your were both treated at the same time with the appropriate antibiotics, you are both probably cured.
Typically chlamydia is not a chronic illness and once treatment has been taken by both partners, the infection is taken care of unless one or the other of you becomes infected again through sex with another person.
I hope this information is helpful. If any part of my response is unclear or there are other questions, please use your up to 2 follow-up questions for clarification. EWH
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11 months ago
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My partner said that her gynecologist says that chlamydia can go from dormant to accute because the body has already been exposed to the bacteria in the body. That even though it is treated it can re-emerge at any point and that it will always be a concern. She said it can reemerge if someone were to get sick with the flu or something, essentially if their immunie system is weak.
Is this accurate? All three gynecologist said this.
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
11 months ago
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I disagree with your partner's gynecologist. Chlamydia does not come and go. No change in my assessment. EWH---
11 months ago
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I apologize. I guess this is the last questuon I can ask and i understand this is bordering in healthy based anxiety which your guidelines do not reccomend however,
She is concerned by your use of "usually." She is wondering has there been cases where it has been chronic after treament has been rendered and the pcr came back negative and is there somewhere where we can read about chlamydia such as official documents about how it works if it is chronic or not.
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
11 months ago
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I have reviewed my previous responses and did not see the word “usually”. On the other hand in my initial response, I stated. That if you were both treated with proper antibiotics at the same time, you were “probably” cured. I use the word “probably” because cure rates for appropriate therapy with antibiotics for chlamydia are about 98% with 2% of treatments failing therapy. These persons have positive tests after treatment. Negative PCR tests show that you were not infected. My assessment has not changed.
I worry that there may be a misinterpretation here so I will allow one more reply from you before closing the thread. EWH
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