Thursday, October 11, 2007

Chlamydia - GPS Discussion Group

The GPS Chlamydia Discussion Group will post information and discussion here based on instructions provided by Erin Oliver.

14 comments:

Unknown said...

In order to create a Google username and password please visit www.google.com and subscribe to an email (gmail)account. Record your name and password in a location where it will not be lost.

Unknown said...

• Bacterial infection
o Chlamydia trachomatis
• Sexually transmitted
o Through sexual intercourse
o “from mother to child with the passage of the child through the birth canal”
• Most common in the US
• 10% of adolescent females infected
• “Symptoms
o Women
 None
 Bleeding after intercourse or between periods
 Lower abdominal pain
 Discharge from vagina
o Men
 25 – 50 % of infected men show no symptoms
 discharge from penis
 pain, burning during urination
 Inflammation or infect of a duct in the testicles, tenderness or pain in the testicles”

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/chlamydia/article_em.htm

• 929,462 new cases of Chlamydia were reported in 2004 in the US
• it is expected that more than 2.8 million cases are new each year because of all the un-reported cases
• 15 – 19 year old women are at most risk of contracting this disease followed by 20-24 year old women
• “the rate of chlamydial infection among African American women was more than seven and a half times the rate among white women”
• “the rate of chlamydial infection among African American males was 11 times that among white males”
o “a significant portion of the disparity in these rates is likely due to variations in reporting.”
• More common in “incarcerated populations, army recruits, and patients at public STI clinics”
• More risk factors include “multiple sexual partners, having a new sexual partner or an infected sexual partner, inconsistently using barrier contraceptives, and having a history of previous or coexistent STIs.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=hstat3.section.32418

Unknown said...

Treatment for Chlamydia

• Antibiotics - though not Penicillin which does not cure Chlamydia
• Azithromycin
• Doxycycline
• Erythromycin
• Ofloxacin
• Amoxicillin
• The doctor may prescribe a single-dose antibiotic, such as azithromycin (Zithromax), taken as a pill. On the other hand, the doctor may choose an antibiotic, such as Doxycycline (Atridox, Bio-Tab), to be taken as a pill twice a day for a week. Up to 95% of people will be cured after one course of antibiotics.
• Finish the entire course of antibiotics your doctor prescribes, even if you're feeling fine and symptoms go away.
• Notify any and all sexual partners of infection. They should be treated or tested so the infection is not passed back and forth.
• Be retested if your symptoms continue or you think you have been reinfected.
• Use latex condoms during sexual intercourse.

www.webmd.com

Unknown said...

(From Meredith)Since I am working on the introduction for Chlamydia and won’t have to do as much detailed research, I figured I could help the rest of the groups find helpful sites.



http://www.engenderhealth.org/wh/inf/dchl.html



I have found the above site to be a good resource. Below, I have listed the headings off of this website. I know several of these should directly pertain to several of the specific topic groups.



What is Chlamydia?

How does someone get Chlamydia?

What are the risk factors for Chlamydia?

How can you protect yourself from getting Chlamydia?

What are some symptoms of Chlamydia?

Can infection with Chlamydia lead to other health problems?

What is the impact of Chlamydia on pregnancy?

How is Chlamydia diagnosed?

Is there a treatment or cure for Chlamydia?



hope this helps

Unknown said...

Class List
Introduction -- Meredith
Background -- Jamie
Impacts -- Sarah & Crissy (globally, Kelley (locally)
Causes -- CC & Lauren
Solutions -- Brittany & Brittney
Treatment -- Megan & Jessica
Practice -- Stephanie & Kristina
Conclusion --

Anonymous said...

I found a really good website about the bacterium chlamydia trachomatis.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-113444/Chlamydia-trachomatis

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

http://healthpolicyguide.org/doc.asp?id=6424

Chlamydia is the most commonly reported infectious disease in the U.S. with an estimated three million cases occurring annually (5). Because the disease is largely unrecognized by the general public, policymakers, and health care providers, chlamydia is often referred to as a "silent" epidemic. Teenage girls have the highest rates of chlamydia infection, with 1 in 10 girls tested for the disease infected (5).

Unknown said...

Causes of Chlamydia
•Chlamydia is an infection caused by a bacterium, Chlamydia trachomatis
•Chlamydia trachomatis is one of three bacterial species in the genus Chlamydia family
•It is a gram negative bacteria
•It was the first Chlamydia agent discovered by humans
•Identified in 1907
•Some strains can have an extra chromosomal plasmid
•Recognized by monoclonal antibodies

How one transmits Chlamydia
•Vaginal sex
•Oral sex
•Anal sex
•Can be passed from an infected mother to her baby during vaginal childbirth

What can happen when one gets Chlamydia?
•Can damage a woman’s reproductive organs which leads to infertility
•Symptoms are usually mild, even absent
•In a man, it can cause discharge from the penis
•From mother to child during vaginal childbirth: Can cause pneumonia, or a serious eye infections in a newborn (happens frequently to children born to mothers when are infected in developing countries)
•More specifically
In Men
Prostatitis – inflammation of the prostate
Epididymitis – inflammation of the epididymis
In Women
Cervicitis – inflammation of the tissues of the cervix
Pelvic Inflammatory disease – the infection of the female uterus, fallopian tubes, and/or ovaries as it progresses to scar formation with adhesions to nearby tissues and organs
Ectopic pregnancy – complication of pregnancy in which the fertilized ovum is implanted in any tissue other than the uterine wall
Pelvic pain
Premature birth
In both sexes
Urethritis – inflammation of the urethra
Infertility – inability of a man or woman to contribute to conception
Proctitis – inflammation of the anus and the lining of the rectum
Reactive arthritis – autoimmune condition that develops in response to an infection in another part of the body
Trachoma – infectious eye disease, can lead to blindness

Information put together from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlamydia_trachomatis

http://www.cdc.gov/std/Chlamydia/STDFact-Chlamydia.htm

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/chlamydia/page2_em.htm

Unknown said...

Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the US today. Just in the Hamilton county area there are 25,000 cases every year and it has been growing for the past few years. Women are easily re-infected with the disease many times if their partners are not treated. So just because you get cured doesn't mean you can't get it again. A major problem why the numbers of cases are increasing each year is because chlamydia can show no symptons so the carrier has no idea that he/she has it, so it is passed on easily from partner to partner.

Unknown said...

• “Chlamydia trachomatis is caused by the gram-negative obligate C. trachomatis.”
• 40% of cases reported are of people from the ages of 15-19
• Prevalence is among sexually active teenage girls (10%)
• persons with several sex partners are at higher risk of infection
• Some studies have shown that persons of lower socioeconomic status are at increased risk for infection. The highest rates for infection in the US are in areas without longstanding screening and treatment programs.
• The prevalence of urethral chlamydial infection among homosexual men is 1/3 the rate of heterosexual men
• 4-8% of homosexual men seen in STD clinics have rectal C
• chlamydial infections can be transmitted to infants during delivery, causing conjunctivitis and pneumonia in many
• it is the leading cause of pneumonia in infants under 6months old
• it is an intracellular parasite that has specific requirements for adenosine triphosphate and amino acids
• in stage 1 the infective stage, the elementary body attaches to the host cell and is ingested by phagocytosis. In stage 2 the elementary body undergoes metamorphosis to become a reticulate or initial body, this is the metabolic phase of the life cycle
o the initial body duplicates by binary fission and change into the elementary body. The host cell which contains the elementary bodies, unde3rgoes lysis, liberating infections organisms that are capable of re-infecting new cells

Phipps, Wilma J., Frances D. Monahan, Judith K. Sands, Jane F. Marek, and Marianne Neighbors. Medical-Surgical Nursing: Health and Illness Perspectives. Ed. Carol J. Green. 7th ed. St. Louis: Mosby, 2003. 1865-1866.

Anonymous said...

Chlamydia is the most common treatable bacterial STD. It can cause serious health problems such as pelvic inflamatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and infertility if it is not treated.
It is estimated that around 92 million chlamydial infections occurred worldwide in 1999, affecting more women (50 million) than men (42 million). In the period 1995 to 1999 there was an estimated worldwide increase in prevalence of 2.8 million people.
Prevalence of chlamydia varies enormously across the world. In the 1990s, rates amongst pregnant women in Europe ranged from 2.7% in Italy to 8.0% in Iceland, while studies in South America found rates of 1.9% amongst teenagers in Chile and 2.1% amongst pregnant women in Brazil. In Asia rates among pregnant women tend to be much higher: up to 17% in India and 26% in rural Papua New Guinea. In Africa, studies amongst pregnant women have revealed rates from 6% in Tanzania to 13% in Cape Verde.

http://www.avert.org/stdstatisticsworldwide.htm

Anonymous said...

Chlamydia by Race
In 2005, chlamydia rates increased for all race/ethnic groups. The rate of chlamydia among blacks was over eight times higher than that of whites (1,247.0 and 152.1 cases per 100,000, respectively). The rates among American Indian/Alaska Natives (748.7) and Hispanics (459.0) were also higher than that of whites (4.9 and 3.0 times higher, respectively).

Chlamydia by Age and Sex
Among women, the highest age-specific rates of reported chlamydia in 2005 were among 15- to 19-year-olds (2,796.6 cases per 100,000 females) and 20- to 24-year- olds (2,691.1 cases per 100,000 females). These increased rates in women may be, in part, due to increased screening in this group. Age-specific rates among men, while substantially lower than the rates in women, were highest in the 20- to 24-year-olds (804.7 cases per 100,000 males).

Chlamydia by Sex
In 2005, the overall rate of reported chlamydia infection among women in the United States (496.5 cases per 100,000 females) was over three times higher than the rate among men (161.1 cases per 100,000 males), likely reflecting a greater number of women screened for this infection. The lower rates among men also suggest that many of the sex partners of women with chlamydia are not diagnosed or reported. However, with the advent of highly sensitive nucleic acid amplification tests that can be performed on urine, symptomatic and asymptomatic men are increasingly being diagnosed with chlamydia infection. From 2001 through 2005, the chlamydia infection rate in men increased by 43.5% (from 112.3 to 161.1 cases per 100,000 males) compared with a 15.6% increase in women over the same period (from 429.6 to 496.5 cases per 100,000 females).

Chlamydia by Region
For the years 1996–2001, the chlamydia rates in the Southern region of the United States were slightly higher than the rates in any other region of the country. For the years 2002–2005, overall rates were comparable in the Midwest, West, and South (353.7, 343.6, 338.1 cases per 100,000 population, respectively). Although slight increases occurred in all regions, rates have remained lowest in the Northeast since 1996. In 2005, the case rate per 100,000 population in the Northeast was 282.5.

http://0-www.cdc.gov.mill1.sjlibrary.org/std/stats/chlamydia.htm

also: US Chlamydia charts, stats, etc. @ http://0-www.cdc.gov.mill1.sjlibrary.org/std/Chlamydia2005/CTSurvSupp2005Complete.pdf

Unknown said...

Chlamydia Treatment

A Chlamydia infection can be treated with a single dose of azithromycin, but the antibiotics tetracycline and erythromycin are less expensive alternatives

Mader, Sylvia S. Human Biology. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2004. 442.


http://mentalhelp.healthology.com//hybrid/hybrid-autodetect.aspx?focus_handle=infectious-diseases&content_id=2578&brand_name=mentalhelp

Chlamydial infections can be cured with oral antibiotics, usually tetracycline and erythromycin. Treatment generally lasts from 7 to 21 days. The patient should avoid sexual contact until the Chlamydia bacteria have been completely eliminated from his or her body.

Garell, M.d, Dale C., ed. "Chlamydia." Sexually Transmitted Diseases. New York: Chelsea House, 1991.