If you have been diagnosed with or have been exposed to chlamydia, you may be wondering just how dangerous it is.

Will it keep coming back, like herpes? Can it cause brain damage, like syphilis? Is there a chance you’ll die, like with AIDS?

Most women, about 75% of those infected, have no symptoms and therefore do not even know that they have been infected with chlamydia. If symptoms do occur, they may be confused with a urinary tract infection or vaginal yeast infection. Burning during urination or vaginal discharge are among the most common symptoms, but when the infection reaches higher up the cervix or fallopian tubes, abdominal pain may occur, along with fever, nausea, back pain, pain during sexual intercourse or abnormal menstrual bleeding. It is important to see your doctor if you experience these symptoms.

Because many women have no warning symptoms and because the infection is sometimes mistaken for something else, damage can occur even before a woman knows she is infected. Up to 40% of untreated women eventually develop pelvic inflammatory disease, which can cause chronic pelvic pain, infertility, or blocked fallopian tubes.

The damage is usually not life-threatening. However, if the fallopian tubes become sufficiently scarred, an ectopic pregnancy (tubal pregnancy) can occur. If this is not detected in time, the tube can burst and cause internal bleeding, which can be fatal.

Another scary fact: If you already have chlamydia and are later exposed to HIV, you are 4 to 5 times more likely to become infected with HIV than if you don’t have chlamydia. STDs occur in pairs. A person infected with one sexually transmitted disease is at high risk of having contracted a second one as well.

Premature delivery is a possible complication for pregnant women infected with chlamydia. Infected mothers can pass the disease to their babies, who can get an eye or lung infection, and even pneumonia.

As for men, up to half of infected men have no symptoms and therefore can spread the disease without even knowing it. Those who do have symptoms often have burning when urinating, so they can confuse this STD with a urinary tract infection. Occasionally, the infection spreads through the urethra and bladder to the epididymis, causing pain behind the testicles, sometimes fever, and occasionally infertility.

If you have any of the above symptoms, see your doctor right away before irreversible damage is done. If you don’t have symptoms but are concerned you may have been exposed, see your doctor as well. Anyone who is sexually active (anyone who has sex) should be tested for chlamydia annually, especially those under the age of 25 (except those in a long-term, fully monogamous relationship who have never been at risk for chlamydia). All pregnant women should also be tested.

Antibiotic treatment is effective, but may not be able to reverse the healing of a long-standing infection, so be sure to see a doctor for this potentially serious infection.

Copyright 2010 Cynthia J. Koelker, MD