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Chlamydia is easy to treat and cure. But if it isn't recognized and treated, chlamydia can spread. This can have serious effects on your health. If you're a woman you may find it hard to get pregnant.

If you're a woman and you have chlamydia that isn't treated, it can spread to your ovaries, womb or the tubes that lead from your ovaries to your womb (fallopian tubes). When this happens it's called pelvic inflammatory disease (also called PID). About one-third of women who have chlamydia that hasn't been treated get pelvic inflammatory disease.¹

If you have pelvic inflammatory disease, you can have other problems such as:

• Blocked tubes (if your tubes are blocked, you may not be able to get pregnant, also called fertility problems)
• Ectopic pregnancy.

Ectopic pregnancy is a dangerous condition. It happens when a fertilized egg can't move to your womb because of a blocked tube. And so your pregnancy starts growing in your fallopian tube.

About 1 in 10 women who've had just one attack of pelvic inflammatory disease get fertility problems because of their blocked tubes.² And the risk of ectopic pregnancy goes up six or seven times.²

If your tubes are damaged, they can sometimes be unblocked by having an operation.

If you're pregnant and have chlamydia that hasn't been treated, you can pass the infection on to your baby during the birth. About one-third of babies of women with untreated chlamydia are born with infection of the eyes or lungs.³ These problems can be cured with antibiotics.

If you're a man and you have chlamydia that isn't treated you;re less likely to get serious health problems than a woman who has the infection. But sometimes chlamydia causes an inflammation either in the tubes that lead to your testicles or in your testicles. This inflammation may make you less fertile (you may have problems getting a woman pregnant), although researchers aren't sure about this.⁴

Men can also get a form of arthritis known as Reiter's syndrome if they have chlamydia that isn't treated.⁵

Getting treatment with antibiotics (medicines that kill bacteria) cures chlamydia. But it doesn't stop people from getting infected again.

If you're a woman your risk of getting pelvic inflammatory disease goes up with each attack of chlamydia.⁶ If you get pelvic inflammatory disease more than once, you're more likely to have fertility problems.⁷

In the long term, the best way to protect yourself against chlamydia is to prevent the infection being passed between sex partners. Here's what doctors advise for men and women at risk of the illness:⁵

• Keep sex partners to a minimum
• Use condoms correctly and regularly during sex
• Get tested for chlamydia regularly.

Some people choose to be tested when starting a new relationship. They may also ask their partner to be tested. (To read more about testing, see What are the symptoms of chlamydia?)

It's important that your last sexual partner or anyone you've had sex with in the past 60 days is also tested and treated for chlamydia.⁸ Because many people don't get symptoms, they may not know they're infected without being told. And if they don't get treatment, it could cause health problems for them in the long term. They might also carry on infecting other people.

You might find it difficult or embarrassing to tell partners or former partners that you've got chlamydia. Your doctor or nurse can advise you about how to do it. If you're being treated at a sexual health clinic, the staff there can contact people, without using your name, to let them know that they should get checked.⁸

This information is for educational use only, and is not a substitute for prompt professional medical advice. Readers should always consult a physician or other professional for advice and treatment. ©BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2008. All rights reserved.