Chlamydia without sexual contact?

I don’t think you can get a STD from sharing a hot tub. I heard a sex ed teacher say you can’t. You might have got it from a cut or something though.

I have heard recently that one can contract chlamydia from pets.

i dont think so either
the amount of chemicals in those things could bring down an ox….

My doctor told me you can get it from being around fowl…sounds kind of crazy but that’s what she said while her elbow was in my vag.
I hope she’ll call me tomorrow like she said…sigh..

Welcome @stp630
Just ask you doctor all the ways it can be contracted, then pick the one that wont make your boyfriend jealous! Very easy.

@jackm LOL! i was actually going to call planned parenthood tomorrow, anyway, i was just curious to see if i would get any legitimate responses on here that could give me a quicker answer.

There was just a thread about this last week. Apparently you can get it from casual contact with dogs, according to that person. It cost her a boyfriend too. :-P

You can get chlamydia without having sex. You can also be a carrier without having it fully yourself (ie test negative but still transmit), this is not altogether common but is possible from what I understand. There is also the possibility of your partner having a false negative.

Transmission

Dormancy
“It is possible that your one friend has chlamydia even though the lab test is negative. This is because the chlamydia organism doesn’t always show up on the test, even though it may be present. It has a lot to do with the type of test and the way the specimen is collected.”

Tests for chlamydia are not 100% accurate. If there is some confusion, I would suggest you both get tested again from different doctors.

I have heard of at least one other situation where one partner tested positively for an STD and the other did not. That still remains a mystery for them, but they decided to stay together over it.

You can carry it for awhile without symptoms.

I’d also like to note that I was tested for it both in April 2009 and in November 2008, and they came up negative.

You can get Chlamydia, which is a yeast infection without sex. Yeast is already in our bodies and sometimes it just takes over. A girl can have it and not the guy because it needs a warm damp dark place to grow and a guys parts are usually not as damp and warm as a girls parts. It CAN be transmitted sexually, but it’s not the only way to get it. Some people are just more susceptible than others. This should not be something to feel guilt or shame about.

@Judi Chlamydia is not the same thing as a yeast infection. Yeast requires an anti-fungal, while Chlamydia requires an antibiotic.

@Judi chlamydia is not the same as a yeast infection. It is a sexually transmitted infection.
@RedPowerLady dormancy means having it but not having symptoms.

@Judi I don’t think that’s true. I don’t know much about Chlamydia, but it’s a bacterial infection, and Yeast is a different microorganism.

@MagsRags and @augustlan ah, well, beat me too it. poo.

I guess I’m really old. Even out of sync with STDS!!!

@stp630 was your positive chlamydia test a cervical culture or a urine test?

@MagsRags culture swab.

The CDC puts out standard protocols on testing and treatment for STIs like chlamydia. Hopefully, your boyfriend’s doctor followed those protocols and treated him at the time he obtained the culture. A test is only a test. Yours could have been a false positive or his could have been a false negative. It’s still better for both of you to be treated since chlamydia can have serious long term consequences for women if left untreated.

@Judi It’s ok… I am old, too. ;-)

@stp630 a positive cervical test means it’s a cervical infection – only one way for the bacteria to get up there, KWIM? ;-)
I asked about the source of the specimen because chlamydia can be pharyngeal, or anal.

Untreated pregnant women can also pass it to their newborn during delivery – the baby will develop a chlamydial eye infection, or possibly chlamydial pneumonia within a few weeks.

@MagsRags
okay, gotcha. so from what i’ve gathered out of this thread, he probably got a false negative, and he should go ahead and take the meds his doc gave him (for just in case reasons), correct? I thought it was odd that he got same day test results, but he also went to a military doctor (he’s on patrol right now), so I don’t know if that makes a difference.

Yep. With tests in general, the quicker the turn around, the higher the rate of false positives and false negatives.

Chlamydia is a “reportable” disease, which means the lab has to inform your local health department who will most likely be contacting you within the next few weeks to make sure you got treated and to get names of recent contacts. You can double check with them about any questions.

One more thought – you mentioned that you got drunk at that party after your boyfriend left – did you pass out at any point? If you did, I’d be concerned about whether something might have happened to you while you were out.

@zaku, thank you for posting the link to last week’s fluther thread. I hadn’t read it before now and it contains misinformation.Chlamydia the STI is caused by chlamydia trachomatis. The chlamydia that pets can carry is chlamydia psittica, not the same bacteria.

@MagsRags – Oh, interesting.

@MagsRags _Chlamydia the STI is caused by chlamydia trachomatis. _

Curious. Why have they closed some petting zoos when animals have tested positive for Chlamydia if it is not the contagious to humans? They do that until the infected animals have been removed and the rest checked again. There are quite a few of “Wash you hand after touching pets to avoid contracting Chlamydia” flyers and posted in Veterinary Clinics and Hospitals. They stress that you should not allow germs from the animals to enter your mouth as it can transfer the infection. I was photographing some politicians at a zoo a few weeks ago and those posters were quite prominent.

Are you suggesting that all of this is unnecessary? That it can’t happen?

@DarkScribe He wasn’t saying that you can’t contract a disease from animals, just that it’s not the same one as the STI. The two bacteria are different. May produce a similar infection (again, don’t know much about the symptoms), but it’s still a different bacteria, and should come up negative on an STI test.

@BhacSsylan just that it’s not the same one as the STI

I have just been doing some medical searches on human and animal Chlamydia. Chlamydia is listed as a potential risk among those sick individuals who engage in bestiality.

I’ll keep washing my hands after touching pets – I have always done it anyway.

@DarkScribe Well, again, you can get a strain of chlamydia from animals. Chlamydia through bestiality is a whole ‘nother kettle of fish, I’d imagine. I’d assume a different strain of chlamydia in the…‘proper’ place would look about the same?

Same genus, different species. There may be some differences in the activity of the bacteria, but chances are they are similar enough to produce the same symptoms and to require the same treatment.

@MagsRags Thank you for clarifying. I realize that but the information I found seemed to link the two. If it is dormant then it could be tested negative for meaning you are a carrier at the time but it is not active.

@RedPowerLady not quite :-)
Herpes can be dormant, meaning you’re between outbreaks and and maybe you’re not shedding virus and therefore not contagious.
HPV can be dormant, meaning you’re harboring the virus but there is no evidence of a clinical outbreak like a wart.
Chlamydia is a bacteria that lives inside host cells. If you have it, you’re infected and contagious. 25 – 50% of men and about 75% of women are asymptomatic. Some might refer to that as “dormant”. But in women, chlamydia can do major damage that may not show up for awhile. 40% of women with untreated chlamydia will develop pelvic inflammatory disease within a year or so. If a women with untreated chlamydia is exposed to HIV, her risk of acquiring it is 5 times higher than another women’s.

So it may be “silent” at least for awhile, but not inactive.

The testing positive or negative has more to do with the imperfection of all tests than with whether the infection is asymptomatic or not.

@MagsRags Well thank you for clarifying. I understand much better now.

If you really didn’t cheat then he probably does have it. What if he cheated and then got chlamydia and was scared and strait out lied to you. To get chlamydia you almost have to have sex of some kind. link

I was in the same position with my husband. I tested positive for Chlamydia and he tested negative. I did some research and most said that it can ONLY be contracted during sex (STD). And my OB said that it is only sexually transmitted as well. But as I read this thread I’m starting to wonder If I got it when I went to the zoo a few months ago.! (No Joke!)

I was pregnant in 2008 and 2010 and did vaginal cultures which came back negative for Chlamydia. And I haven’t slept or even been near another male besides my husband (he’s also my first, you know). So I found it so strange that I would have it and he didn’t since he slept with about 2 partners before I met him in 2004 with a 5 year or so gap in between me and them.) but we have slept together (protected and unprotected since 2004. And I was tested twice (during my pregnancies in 2009 and 2010). There might be a link with this animal transmission thing.

We both got treated and I was retested and tested negative. Not only that i did a vaginal culture the month before I did the test for Chlamydia and it was negative as well. I’m not sure if they had tested for Chlamydia at that time though.

Strange!