Had unprotected sex with a new partner? You may have chlamydia.
Not to send the panic wolves pouncing on your porch, but chlamydia is actually more common in a population than most people think and it isn’t a sexually transmitted disease to be scoffed at.
Not only can it render you infertile-for both men and women- but more than half of the people who get it never have any symptoms. Not a one.
And so, in order to drive the point home that it’s always a good idea to carry and wear a condom, let’s talk about more of the details, in order to instill some sexual terror.
Here’s what the big CH does to you: it gets into your body from you oh-so-unwisely engaging in vaginal, oral or anal sex or sharing sex toys with an infected person. It was kinky and fun, but now’s the time to pay.
When chlamydia creeps in, it can seriously infect those delicate fallopian tubes and the womb. If a female is pregnant when she becomes infected, she can pass the illness on to the baby, causing pneumonia or eye infections. Chlamydia can also cause long-term pelvic pain, miscarriages, ectopic pregnancy, and pain, swelling and scar tissue in the testicles.
Sound like your best friend? Thankfully, if it’s caught in time, chlamydia can be treated with antibiotic pills and be dealt with.
But you may not even know you have it, so get tested. And use a condom. The embarrassment of having to bring up the topic of protection while in the moment is far less than any suffering you will withstand from contracting an STD or STI.
Closing statements: watch out everybody but particularly, watch out, you youngsters. Chlamydia infection rates in people 14-24 years of age are triple that of those aged 25-39.
As for the guys vs girls stuff, according to recent research done by the CDC, about 1 in 15 sexually active girls under the age of 19 has an active chlamydia infection.
While not always but often, sex involves a guy and a girl, so it could be safe to argue that the infection rate is about similar for the males.
As stated before, now’s a good time to invest some money in some Durex tubes and play it sensible.
Photo Credit: CI Photos/Shutterstock
