From the Research
Chlamydia is almost exclusively transmitted through sexual contact, including vaginal, anal, or oral sex, and it is unlikely that you contracted it without sexual transmission. While extremely rare, non-sexual transmission can occur through direct contact with infected genital secretions transferred to the eyes, or from mother to baby during childbirth. In this situation, there are several possibilities to consider:
- Your boyfriend may have received a false negative test result, as no test is 100% accurate 1.
- He might have been treated with antibiotics for another condition that inadvertently treated an undiagnosed chlamydia infection.
- It's also possible that one of you had an asymptomatic infection from a previous relationship, as chlamydia can remain dormant for months or years without symptoms.
- Another consideration is that one partner may not be disclosing all sexual contacts. For treatment, the recommended regimen is doxycycline 100mg twice daily for 7 days, which has been shown to be superior to azithromycin 1g as a single dose in the treatment of rectal chlamydia infection 1. Both partners should be treated regardless of test results, and you should abstain from sexual activity until both have completed treatment and are symptom-free for 7 days. Follow-up testing 3-4 weeks after treatment is recommended to ensure the infection has cleared.