What you don’t know about can hurt you, especially when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) like chlamydia.
According to the CDC, chlamydia is on the rise in the United States (1.2 million new cases were reported in 2008.) Unfortunately, it is often symptomless. In fact, many women have no clue they are infected until they try to conceive and discover that a case of untreated chlamydia has left them with fertility problems.
How can you know if you might have been infected with chlamydia? Though a screening is your only way of finding out for certain, you may be at risk if…
- Your mother had chlamydia. (The infection can be passed to a baby through vaginal childbirth.)
- You’ve had any sex partners who could have been infected with chlamydia. (The more there have been, the greater the possibility.)
- You were sexually active as a teen.
- You have had oral or anal sex with someone who could have been infected with chlamydia.
Even if you believe there isn’t any way that your partners (male or female) could have had chlamydia, ask your doctor for a screening to rule it out if you’re trying to have a child.
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