Puberty Sex information - Teenage Boys

Street Names for Chlamydia

the clam, gooey stuff

Facts about Chlamydia

• Caused by chlamydia trachomatis, a round bacterium that lives inside body cells.
• This is the most common infectious disease and STD reported in the U.S.
  • 3-5 million new cases each year.
  • Adolescents are very vulnerable.

Description

Chlamydia is a disease usually occurring inside of your body and usually starts inside your penis, causing an infection of the urethra, which is the tube down the middle of your penis that carries urine out of your body.

• Takes 3-5 days (up to 30 days) before a guy will notice symptoms in his penis.
• Ejaculation is not needed to catch it or pass it.
• 80% of women have no symptoms at all even though they are infected, therefore they may not know that they are giving you the same disease.
• Disease can be transmitted to someone else before symptoms occur.

Symptoms

Almost same symptoms as Gonohrrea.

• May take 2-3 weeks after exposure before symptoms occur in the penis.
• Women rarely (20%) have symptoms.
  • 40% will get PID, and 20% of these may become infertile (unable to ever have a baby).
  • 18% have extreme chronic pain
  • 9% may suffer a life-threatening complication of pregnancy called a tubal pregnancy
• Can be passed when no symptoms are present.

Treatment

• Antibiotics correctly chosen by your doctor will easily cure the disease.
• No over-the-counter medicine works, only the correct antibiotic, so see a doctor.

Recurrence

A person can get this infection repeatedly!

Prevention

• Only 100% completely safe option - choose not to have sex!
• Latex condoms work if used properly.
• There is no way to know if your sex partner is infected.
• See your doctor if you have questions or experience symptoms.

More information

If you have further questions or concerns about STD’s, ask Dr. Mike, an internationally known Clinical Microbiologist specializing in STDs. He has worked extensively with teenage boys and contributed all the information on the STD pages. (Change the (at) to @ and the (dot) to . in the email address below)

Tell Dr Mike how old you are, what country you are from and then write your message. You will be emailing a specialist offering his time to help young guys! Your email will be treated confidentially and erased after he answers you!