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Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
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Prevention
By Mayo Clinic staffThe surest way to prevent a chlamydia infection is to abstain from sexual activities. Short of that, you can:
- Use condoms. Use a male latex condom or a female polyurethane condom during each sexual contact. Condoms used properly during every sexual encounter reduce but don't eliminate the risk of infection.
- Limit your number of sex partners. Having multiple sex partners puts you at a high risk of contracting chlamydia and other sexually transmitted diseases.
- Get regular screenings for sexually transmitted diseases. If you're sexually active, particularly if you have multiple partners, talk with your doctor about how often you should be screened for chlamydia and other sexually transmitted diseases.
- Avoid douching. Women shouldn't use douche because it decreases the number of good bacteria present in the vagina, which may increase the risk of infection.
References
- Chlamydia fact sheet. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/std/chlamydia/STDFact-Chlamydia.htm. Accessed Feb. 27, 2009.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, et al. Sexually transmitted diseases treatment guidelines, 2006. MMWR Recommendations and Reports. 2006;55:1. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5511a1.htm. Accessed Feb. 2, 2009.
- Stamm WE. Chlamydial infections. In: Fauci AS, et al. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 17th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aid=2895329. Accessed March 2, 2009.
- Zenilman JM. Genital chlamydia trachomatis infections in women. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Feb. 27, 2009.
- Zenilman JM. Genital chlamydia trachomatis infections in men. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Feb. 27, 2009.
- Miller KE. Diagnosis and treatment of Chlamydia trachomatis infection. American Family Physician. 2006;73:1411.
- Miller WC, et al. Prevalence of chlamydial and gonococcal infections among young adults in the United States. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2004;291:2229.
