What causes chlamydia in the throat? Related conditions and treatments

What does chlamydia in the throat feel like?

Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis. It is one of the most commonly reported STIs in the U.S. People get infected by having vaginal sex, oral sex, or anal sex with an infected person. The overwhelming majority of people who get chlamydia have no symptoms of chlamydia at all. Even so, the infection can cause permanent damage, particularly in women. Complications in women include pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), ectopic pregnancy, and infertility.

Oral chlamydia occurs when the mouth or throat gets infected, usually as the result of performing oral sex on a person infected with chlamydia. Like genital or anal chlamydia, most cases of oral chlamydia are asymptomatic. When they do occur, they typically don’t resemble an STI. When genital chlamydia has symptoms, they’re typically pain when urinating or a urethral or vaginal discharge. Oral chlamydia doesn’t cause symptoms like that. Instead, the most common sign of chlamydia in the throat (pharyngeal chlamydia) is a sore throat. However, a sore throat could be a sign of any throat infection or problem. Other symptoms might include swollen lymph nodes, swollen tonsils, redness or white spots at the back of the throat, or a low fever. Unfortunately, these, too, aren’t symptoms that specifically point to a chlamydia infection. It’s easy to misread these symptoms as something other than an STI.

What causes chlamydia in the throat?

Chlamydia in the throat is caused by having receptive oral sex with an infected partner. Both women and men are equally likely to catch the infection by having oral sex with other women or men. In a study reviewing the prevalence of chlamydia infections, the researchers found that the median prevalence of chlamydia in the throat was 1.7% for women, 1.6% for men who have sex with women, and 1.7% for men who have sex with men.

Should I be worried about chlamydia in the throat?

Chlamydia in the throat should be treated to prevent complications and the spread of the disease. Untreated chlamydia can have complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) or permanent damage to reproductive organs and infertility in women. Chlamydia infections increase the risk of an ectopic pregnancy and can be spread to a newborn. Reactive arthritis is another rare complication that can be experienced by both men and women infected with chlamydia.

See a healthcare professional if you have symptoms of an oral chlamydia infection and are sexually active. People should also get regularly screened for chlamydia infection if they have any risk factors for contracting an STD. These include having unprotected sex, multiple sex partners, or sex with another person who is infected with an STD.

How is the cause of chlamydia in the throat diagnosed?

Healthcare professionals diagnose chlamydia in the throat from a medical history, review of symptoms, physical exam, and testing of a sample. For chlamydia of the throat, a definitive diagnosis is made with a swab test using nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT). If genital chlamydia is also suspected, the healthcare provider may use a urine sample for NAAT testing. Other tests may be used, particularly rapid testing, that can arrive at a fairly reliable result in a short time at little cost. If no tests are available, the clinician will use their best judgment.

In conducting a chlamydia test, the healthcare professional will probably perform other STI tests since other infections are a possibility. The clinician may also test women for pregnancy or pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).

It is strongly urged that people diagnosed with an STI have their sexual partners tested, as well. If not, they can easily catch the infection a second time.

Is chlamydia in the throat contagious? 

Chlamydia in the throat is contagious, and the bacteria is present in saliva for as long as the infection lasts. Chlamydia in the throat can be spread from the throat to another person’s genitals, urinary tract, or rectum through oral sex. Healthcare professionals do not believe that kissing can spread oral chlamydia.

How long does chlamydia in the throat last?

Without treatment, chlamydia is likely to be a lifelong infection, though not always. Treatment with antibiotics is 95% effective at clearing the infection.

How to stop chlamydia in the throat

As a bacterial infection, chlamydia is treated with a course of antibiotics. Treatment options are limited to the most effective antibiotics. The CDC chlamydia treatment guidelines recommend seven days of doxycycline. If that’s not possible, other treatments include a single large dose of azithromycin or seven days of levofloxacin. Healthcare professionals aren’t certain about the effectiveness of antibiotics in treating chlamydia of the throat specifically, but observational studies suggest that doxycycline is the best choice.

Healthcare providers will ask people being treated for chlamydia to abstain from sexual intercourse or other sexual activity for the entire seven-day treatment period. They may also ask the person not to have sex until their partner has tested negative or finished treatment.

Follow-up testing may occur three weeks after treatment ends to verify that the infection has been eradicated, but healthcare providers won’t ask that of everyone. People should be retested three months later to ensure they haven’t caught a second chlamydia infection.

Living with chlamydia in the throat

Like all infections, a chlamydial infection can recur for the same reasons the first one was caught. Reinfection is common even in people who have only one sexual partner. For women, recurrent chlamydia infections increase the risk of complications such as PID, blocked fallopian tubes, ectopic pregnancy, abscess, and infertility.

The CDC recommends the following to protect your sexual health by preventing STDs:

• Abstain from sex

• If that’s not possible, strive to be in a long-term, mutually monogamous sexual relationship

• If that’s not possible, limit the number of sexual partners you have

• Use condoms when having sex—latex condoms are very effective at preventing chlamydia infections

• Use condoms or dental dams when giving oral sex to a man or woman

• Get tested regularly

What’s next? Additional resources for people with chlamydia in the throat

Test and diagnostics

• Chlamydia, StatPearls

• Chlamydia—CDC fact sheet, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

• Chlamydia trachomatis infections: screening, diagnosis, and management, American Family Physician

Treatments

• Chlamydia, StatPearls

• Chlamydia infections—STI treatment guidelines 2021, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

• Chlamydia trachomatis infections: screening, diagnosis, and management, American Family Physician

• How you can prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Scientific studies and clinical trials

• Extragenital infections caused by , Infectious Diseases in Obstetrics and Gynecology