Chlamydia is a highly common bacterial sexually transmitted infection (STI) that is easily cured with a course of antibiotics. Untreated infection can lead to serious complications in women, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, which may cause chronic pelvic pain, ectopic pregnancy, or infertility. Because many people with chlamydia do not experience symptoms, seeking prompt testing and treatment is the only way to avoid these long-term health issues. Getting a prescription begins with a medical evaluation and testing to confirm the diagnosis.
Accessing Testing and Clinical Evaluation
The initial step in obtaining a prescription is getting tested. Testing is routinely offered at several locations, including a primary care provider, community health clinics, specialized sexual health clinics, and urgent care centers. Telehealth platforms provide another option, allowing for remote consultation and the ordering of a lab test.
The diagnostic procedure relies on a highly accurate method called a Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT). For men, this typically involves collecting a first-void urine sample, which means the first part of the urine stream. For women, a self-collected vaginal swab is often the preferred and most sensitive sample type.
A healthcare professional will conduct a clinical evaluation to assess potential co-infections and determine the need for samples from other sites, such as the rectum or throat, depending on sexual history. Once the lab confirms the presence of Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria from the collected sample, the provider can immediately issue the necessary antibiotic prescription.
Treatment Options and Prescription Pathways
Chlamydia treatment involves a short course of highly effective oral antibiotics. The preferred first-line treatment, according to current guidelines, is doxycycline, taken as a 100 mg pill twice a day for a full seven days. Doxycycline is generally recommended because it has shown higher effectiveness, particularly for infections that may also be present in the rectum.
An alternative, single-dose regimen is a 1-gram dose of azithromycin, which is sometimes used when adherence to a seven-day course is a concern. The prescription can be issued in several ways, often depending on the clinical setting. After a positive result, a provider may send the prescription electronically to the patient’s preferred pharmacy or dispense the medication directly from the clinic, which is known as “medication-in-hand.”
Clinicians using telehealth services can review the positive lab result and send the electronic prescription to a local pharmacy for immediate pickup. Regardless of the medication prescribed, it is essential to take the entire course exactly as directed to ensure the bacteria is completely eliminated.
Crucial Steps Post-Diagnosis: Partner Management and Follow-Up
After the prescription is obtained and treatment has begun, several important steps must be taken to prevent reinfection and stop further transmission. All sexual partners from the previous 60 days should be notified so they can get tested and treated, as they may be infected without knowing it. In many jurisdictions, a practice called Expedited Partner Therapy (EPT) allows the diagnosed patient to receive a prescription or medication for their partner without that partner needing an immediate clinical evaluation.
During the entire treatment period and for seven full days after the final dose of medication, it is mandatory to abstain from all sexual activity. This period of abstinence ensures that the antibiotics have had time to work fully and prevents the infection from being passed back and forth between partners, a common cause of treatment failure.
The final necessary step is follow-up testing, or re-testing, which is typically recommended about three months after completing treatment. This re-testing is primarily to check for possible reinfection from an untreated partner, rather than a failure of the initial treatment.