Lower Abdominal Pain And Chlamydia

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Routine Screening for Chlamydia Recommended

In 2001, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force made its recommendation that sexually active women under the age of 25 have routine screening tests to detect Chlamydia. Since then, other government agencies dealing with health have made similar recommendations.

What's the difference between screening and diagnosing?
Usually, doctors order medical tests when patients come to them complaining of certain symptoms. The purpose is to determine if the patient has a condition that fits the symptoms - diagnostic testing. Usually, a doctor has to suspect that the patient may have a disease or condition before they'll order diagnostic testing.

Sometimes, though, the medical community decides that a condition is important enough that everyone (or everyone who fits a certain profile) should be tested for it. When doctors test people for a condition without having symptoms, or when they test people who fit a certain profile, it's called a 'screen'.

Why screen for Chlamydia?
Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted disease that is caused by the Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria. Chlamydia doesn't often cause many symptoms, and when it does they are often mild and easy to ignore. Unfortunately, when Chlamydia is ignored instead of treated, it can result in some major problems, for both men and women. Those problems include increased risk of other STDs, pelvic inflammatory disease, scarring of the reproductive tubes, lowered fertility and infertility. Untreated Chlamydia can be transmitted to newborn children through an infected mother, and is the biggest cause of pneumonia and conjunctivitis in newborn children.

Numerous studies have shown that Chlamydia may affect as much as 10-15% of all sexually active teens and adults. Because it causes no symptoms in so many of those that have it, it gets passed along for the simple reason that they don't know that they're infected. Routine screening during health exams and for other reasons can help identify people who are infected so that they can receive treatment.

Who should be screened for Chlamydia?
The CDC recommends that sexually active women under the age of 25 be screened annually for Chlamydia. In addition, they recommend that sexually active adolescent girls be screened at least once a year, or more often if they have heightened risk factors. Those factors include multiple sexual partners, a sexual partner with multiple sexual partners or a history of previous STDs. Teens are particularly at risk for contracting chlamydia. The CDC statistics estimate that some 11% of teens may have chlamydia. Specifically, those that should be screened for chlamydia are:
-- Sexually active girls between the ages of 14 and 19 - once to twice per year
-- Sexually active women between the ages of 19 and 30 - once per year
-- Pregnant women of any age, because of the risk of infecting the newborn child at birth
-- Women who have unprotected sex with more than one partner.
-- Women who have unprotected sex with a partner who has multiple sexual partners.

Because recent studies have shown that approximately 8% of young men between 20 and 24 have unsuspected chlamydia, some health professionals are also suggesting that they be routinely screened for chlamydia. Screening and treating chlamydia in young men may also help reduce the incidence of chlamydia in young women.

I hope this sexually transmitted diseases article was helpful to you, no matter how much... or how little it had to do with lower abdominal pain and chlamydia.

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