Chlamydia: Causes
Top Causes
1. Vaginal childbirth
When a woman’s vagina is infected by chlamydia and she gives birth normally, the baby contracts the disease through the infected vagina. Such babies suffer from eye and respiratory tract infections and may be sometimes premature or even stillborn.
2. Chlamydia during pregnancy
About 100,000 pregnant women are estimated to contract chlamydia in the US every year. This is because pregnant woman suffer hormonal changes which make them vulnerable and more receptive to chlamydia during intercourse. So, pregnant women are asked to abstain from unprotected sex till delivery.
3. Oral sex
The Chlamydia bacteria enter the throat of men and women having oral sex, causing acute pain, inflammation and bleeding.
4. Anal sex
Men and women who allow receptive anal sex, permit the chlamydia bacteria to penetrate the rectum, causing profuse bleeding.
5. Homosexual habits
Since chlamydia is easily passed on by anal or oral sex, gay men and lesbians are its surest victims. Men having sex with other men are very prone to chlamydia.
6. Teen sex
Teenage girls are the feeblest victims of chlamydia. This is because their cervix is not fully mature and is hence easily receptive to the bacteria. So, sexually active teenage girls easily fall prey to chlamydia.
7. Multiple partners
The greater the number of partners, the higher the risk of chlamydia. Chlamydia being spore-like gets easily embedded in the vaginal wall of women and is passed on rapidly.
8. Unprotected sex
Chlamydia trachomatis being an intracellular obligate bacterial parasite, it cannot survive without adenosine triphosphate (ATP) from the human cell. This bacterium feeds on ATP by bursting the cells open and penetrating them. Unprotected sex increases the risk of bacterial penetration manifold. Latex condoms are the safest, simplest and surest measure to prevent chlamydia attack.
9. Unhygienic sexual practices
Chlamydia is found to be transmitted by bacteria which thrive on squalor, unclean sexual methods lead to this sexual disease. When sexual intercourse is done in an unhygienic condition, the partners succumb to Chlamydia.