How do you know when chlamydia is cured completely?
The treatment for chlamydia works very well. If you follow the instructions and take it correctly it should treat the infection.
Sometimes, you might need to do another chlamydia test 6 weeks after you’ve had treatment. This is to check that you no longer have the infection. It’s sometimes called a ‘test of cure’.
A test of cure is recommended if:
you are pregnant
you had a rectal infection
In these cases, chlamydia can cause complications or develop into a more serious infection. So making sure that the treatment has worked correctly is important. The only way to be certain that chlamydia is cured completely is by testing again.
You might also be advised to take a test of cure if you have had trouble taking the treatment correctly.
A second test will be most accurate 6 weeks after you’ve finished the treatment. You should not test before this as you may get a false positive result.
Reinfection
You can get chlamydia more than once, even if you’ve recently had treatment. Reinfections like this are common with people under 25. We recommend testing for STIs every 3 months if you change partners, or every year if you have a long-term partner.
