What is chlamydia and how to treat it? This is a matter that worries a significant portion of the population. In the modern world, this infection is detected more and more often. Perhaps this is due to the improvement of diagnostic methods.
Chlamydia trachomatis is a pathogenic intracellular bacterium that often provokes the development of infectious diseases of the human urogenital system. However, it is rather an intermediate between viruses and bacteria. This feature makes it difficult to treat
chlamydial infections, because conventional antibacterial drugs cannot completely destroy them.
Chlamydia trachomatis does not have its own energy sources - mitochondria, so it has to exploit the cell using its energy resources. Chlamydia trachomatis affects mainly the human reproductive system. It should be noted that in nature there are about 18 serotypes, and two of them are causative agents of urogenital chlamydia.
Medicine uses a specific classification according to which chlamydia trachomatis of serotypes DK causes urogenital chlamydia, L1-L3 - leads to the development of venereal lymphogranuloma, AC - causes trachoma.
Bacteria enter the body of a man or woman most often through sexual contact. However, they develop their violent activity in the body of the first and second according to slightly different schemes. In women, the cycle of the introduction of the pathogenic parasite and its active reproduction is 42-72 hours, while chlamydia is attached to the mucous membranes and cause their inflammation. If the woman’s immune system is sufficiently stable, then the bacteria can freeze in the phase of the reticular corpuscles until the immune system fails.
If chlamydia enters the male body, then the symptoms appear quickly enough, which is explained by the features of male anatomy. A man, unlike a woman, is contagious even in the phase of the reticular bodies.
Symptoms of chlamydia are itching, pain during urination, minor discharge. It is worth noting that the disease is often asymptomatic, and the diagnosis becomes unexpected for the carrier. However, chlamydia can be extremely dangerous for women - it is fraught with infertility, miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy. Prostatitis or infertility also threatens male carriers. That is why regular examinations by a gynecologist with taking smears for infections are so important, even with good overall health.
In addition to urogenital infection, chlamydia trachomatis can be the causative agent of purulent conjunctivitis, pediatric pneumonia, venereal lymphogranuloma, as well as some diseases of the nervous system and hearing organs. But these are still rarer cases.
Chlamydia trichomatis is usually found when taking PCR smears, as well as using serological methods - RSK, ELISA.
If the test results are disappointing, and chlamydia trachomatis confidently attacked the human body, it remains to tune in to long-term treatment with antibacterial drugs and immunomodulating agents. An innovation in the treatment of chlamydial diseases was the introduction of an alternative method of treatment - extracorporeal hemocorrection, which reduces the harmful effects of antibiotics and at the same time restores the immune system.
Remember, bacterial infections are not a sentence, but their treatment is a must. The inflammatory process tends to spread to larger areas and lead to severe complications.