Chlamydial urethritis is an inflammation of the urethra provoked by the sexually transmitted chlamydia bacteria. Edema, inflammation of the urinary canal are manifested by a variety of symptoms, although often this pathology proceeds without clinical manifestations.
Chlamydial urethritis is a dangerous disease that can affect not only the urinary tract, but also nearby organs, as well as affect vision, digestion. Often chlamydia occurs against the background of other pathologies caused by cocci, fungal infections or trichomonads.
Types of Chlamydial Urethritis
Each type of pathology has its own characteristics and differences from other varieties. With an acute form, the clinic, as with a gonococcal infection. And with chronic symptoms, it is completely absent or changes with each exacerbation. Chlamydial urethritis in each person manifests itself in different ways, so it is often confused with other ailments.
Varieties of pathology directly depend on the degree of damage and the location of the disease. According to these criteria, a torpid and total appearance is distinguished. Sometimes the torpid goes into total, and in advanced cases, men can have prostatitis.
Causes of pathology
The most common cause of the development of the disease is unprotected sexual intercourse. During it, bacteria penetrate from the diseased organism into a healthy one, and infection can occur equally often from both men and women. In men, chlamydia lingers on the mucous membrane of the penis, their active reproduction begins. With weakened immunity, pathogenic microorganisms penetrate the urethral epithelium, causing its inflammation. During their life, bacteria release toxins that have a negative effect on the subepithelial structure of the urinary canal.
Chlamydial urethritis may not manifest itself for a long time, which leads to serious complications.
Clinic of chlamydia in men
A disease of the urinary tract caused by chlamydia proceeds in the same way as other types of urethritis.
The incubation period of bacterial development is 7-25 days, but can vary to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the human immunity.
Most often, chlamydia is manifested by pain at the end of urination in women and men, as well as discharge from the urethra of a different nature. They can be vitreous, purulent, bloody. Most often, discharge is observed in the morning.
Symptoms in men
Usually, urethritis in men in the early stages does not have any manifestations, and only after a few weeks do the first symptoms of chlamydial urethritis appear. The main manifestations include:
- burning sensation, pain in the urethra;
- the head of the penis becomes edematous, hyperemic;
- yellowish mucus is released from the canal.
During an ailment, discomfort appears only in the affected area. With the development of pathology, urine begins to come out in small portions, causing pain. A similar clinical picture develops with gonorrhea: often these ailments occur simultaneously with the same symptoms.
Clinic for women
At first, women do not have any pathological manifestations of the disease. Later there is a feeling of discomfort in the genital area, mucous discharge. With an increase in the clinical picture, women experience pain at the end of urination. In addition, the clinic of chlamydia is manifested by itching in the urethra, the appearance of an unpleasant odor, pain and discomfort during sexual intercourse. With the development of the disease, the nature of the discharge changes: at first they are transparent, and later they can become purulent, bloody.
If treatment is not started in a timely manner, the pathology quickly rises through the genitourinary system, reaching the cervix.
With an ailment, the front wall of the urethra is first affected, and then the symptoms recede. After a while, it reappears with renewed vigor. Such a course indicates the spread of infection.
Possible complications
If treatment is not started in a timely manner, then the pathology is complicated. It can cause a variety of diseases of the genitals and genitourinary system, including hemorrhagic cystitis, epididymitis in women, and in men - urethral stricture, damage to seminal vesicles, prostatitis.
If the treatment is carried out incorrectly, then chlamydia can lead to impotence. In women, they cause ectopic pregnancy, cervical erosion. Bacteria can cause miscarriages.
Diagnostic Methods
Diagnosis of chlamydial urethritis is carried out in several stages. First, the doctor collects complaints, anamnesis, conducts an initial examination, during which smears are taken for analysis. Additionally, blood, urine is prescribed. After identifying the causative agent of infection, the causes of chlamydial urethritis are established. This is necessary in order to find out who could infect the patient and whom he could infect. Couples are given joint therapy: both sexual partners must undergo treatment, otherwise all therapy will be nullified after the first sexual intercourse.
If a chronic form of the disease is suspected, doctors prescribe urethroscopy and urethrography. It is mandatory to carry out bacterial inoculation of the pathogen, which allows you to understand which antibiotics are best treated.
An ultrasound is prescribed to determine the condition of the internal urogenital organs.
Treatment methods
After obtaining diagnostic data, treatment for chlamydial urethritis begins. Since the disease is caused by bacteria, the doctor selects antibacterial drugs. It can be such drugs as Ofloxacin, Doxycycline and other types of antibiotics. With special care, medicines are selected for pregnant women.
Treatment is carried out by taking the drugs inside or by introducing them into the urethra. In the chronic form, physiotherapy is carried out. During treatment, sexual activity is completely excluded.
Drug selection
For successful therapy, such anti-chlamydial drugs are selected that are able to penetrate the cell structure. It is also worth considering that chlamydia occurs in conjunction with other pathologies, so the doctor should choose a drug that can affect all types of bacteria, i.e. a wide spectrum of action.
For treatment, drugs from the following groups are used:
- Tetracyclines.
- Fluoroquinolones.
- Aminoglycosides.
- Rifampicins.
- Macrolides.
- Sulfonamides.
Tetracyclines
At the initial stages of the pathology, tetracycline drugs show excellent results - these are Tetracycline, Doxycycline. They are prescribed a course from seven days to two weeks. These medicines help to cope with cervicitis, urethritis, are effective in asymptomatic carriage of chlamydia. However, drugs of this group are practically not used.
Macrolides
These substances include drugs such as Erythromycin, Spiromycin, Azithromycin, and several others.
Erythromycin was once used to treat chlamydia, but this antibiotic is outdated, today it has been replaced by new, more effective drugs, including Azithromycin.
"Azithromycin": instructions
The instructions for the use of capsules "Azithromycin" says that this tool has a wide spectrum of action. The drug is active against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, some types of anaerobic pathogens, as well as against chlamydia.
When administered, the antibiotic is completely absorbed from the digestive tract. When taking a dosage of 500 mg, the maximum concentration in the blood is noted after three hours. The new agent penetrates well into all cells, including the skin, soft tissues. Moreover, in the tissues, the drug accumulates thirty times more than in the blood. Such indicators are associated with the fact that azithromycin practically does not bind to blood proteins.
Indications for the use of the drug are infectious and inflammatory pathologies caused by antibiotic-sensitive microorganisms:
- diseases of the ENT organs;
- diseases of the respiratory system, including SARS;
- urogenital chlamydia;
- diseases of the digestive tract, etc.
The instructions for the use of capsules "Azithromycin" says that this drug is taken one hour before a meal or two hours after a meal.
With urethritis, a single dose of capsules is prescribed at a dosage of 1 g. With moderate renal failure, dosage adjustment is not required. With severe liver damage, the drug should be prescribed with caution.
Side effects of the drug can be manifested by a variety of clinical symptoms, including: dizziness, nephritis, swelling, chest pain, aggression, sleep disturbance, gastritis, itching, fatigue, hemolytic anemia, arthralgia, etc. Caution must be exercised when driving. and other vehicles, so the drug affects the ability to drive.
The product is available in capsules, packed in six pieces in a contour cell. One contour cell is packed in a cardboard box along with instructions for use. The product is stored at a temperature not exceeding 25 degrees out of the reach of children.
Like any antibiotic, Azithromycin is dispensed only by prescription.
Fluoroquinols
Fluoroquinol medications have a high efficacy against chlamydia. Antibiotics of this group, which can be prescribed: Ofloxacin, Pefloxacin, Norfloxacin, Lomefloxacin and others. However, laboratory experiments have shown that fluoroquinols are inferior in effectiveness to tetracyclines and macrolides.
Currently, Ofloxacin is used to treat bacterial ailments. He is prescribed two hundred milligrams twice a day or four hundred milligrams once a day. The drug is taken for ten days. Chlamydia resistance to this medication is practically non-existent.
Chlamydia Fight
To prevent infection by any sexually transmitted pathology, only protected sexual contacts and timely visits to doctors are recommended. Women and men should visit the urologist and gynecologist at least once a year for preventive purposes. During the visit, you can identify hidden infections, learn about diseases that occur without obvious clinical manifestations, including chlamydia and some other pathologies.
Only a gynecologist or urologist can prescribe a treatment for chlamydia.