STDs & Infertility

CDC Recommends Chlamydia and Gonorrhea Screening of All Sexually Active Women Under 25

Chlamydia and gonorrhea are important preventable causes of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and infertility. Untreated, about 10-15% of women with chlamydia will develop PID. Chlamydia can also cause fallopian tube infection without any symptoms. PID and “silent” infection in the upper genital tract may cause permanent damage to the fallopian tubes, uterus, and surrounding tissues, which can lead to infertility.

• An estimated 2.86 million cases of chlamydia and 820,000 cases of gonorrhea occur annually in the United States.*
• Most women infected with chlamydia or gonorrhea have no symptoms.

CDC recommends annual chlamydia and gonorrhea screening of all sexually active women younger than 25 years, as well as older women with risk factors such as new or multiple sex partners, or a sex partner who has a sexually transmitted infection.
 

Resources

• 2010 STD Treatment Guidelines
• Summary of a Review of the Literature: Programs to Promote Chlamydia Screening - a literature review to support an infertility prevention social marketing campaign
• Male Chlamydia Screening Consultation - Review and guidance
  (25 May 2007)
  • Dear Colleague Letter - from John M. Douglas, Jr., MD., Director, Division of STD Prevention.
• Expedited Partner Therapy in the Management of Sexually Transmitted Diseases - Review and Guidance (2 February 2006)
• Infertility Prevention Activities
• Chlamydia Screening, HEDIS and Managed Care
• Screening Tests to Detect Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae Infections - 2002 (18 October 2002)

* Chlamydia and gonorrhea are the first and second most commonly reported notifiable disease in the United States. In 2013, a total of 1,401,906 chlamydial infections and 333,004 cases of gonorrhea were reported to CDC from 50 states and the District of Columbia. The number of reported cases is lower than the estimated total number because infected people are often unaware of, and do not seek treatment for, their infections and because screening for chlamydia is still not routine in many clinical settings.