The bacteria that cause chlamydia might be trickier than we knew . In a newfangled study this week , scientists have feel evidence that these bacteria can cover in our intestine . The findings might explain why some hoi polloi feel re - occurrences of chlamydia even after successful antibiotic discourse , the researchers say .
Chlamydia in humans is caused byChlamydia trachomatis(other beast , including kangaroo bear , have theirown version ) . It ’s the most commonly reported sexually carry infection in the U.S. , with more than 1.6 million documented typeface in 2022 . Though most infected hoi polloi will not become unbalanced , some will experience gruesome symptoms like blinking urination , genital discharge , or rectal painfulness and bleeding , depending on where the infection is located . Untreated cases of chlamydia can lead to life - changing complication like pelvic inflammatory disease , arthritis , and even sterility , while also raising the risk of pick up other STIs .
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A 3D illustration of Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria© iLexx via Getty
Researchers at the University of Würzburg in Bavaria , Germany , led this new enquiry , who were hoping to get to the bottom of a lasting mystery about chlamydia . Though infections stay very treatable with antibiotics ( for now , at least ) , some the great unwashed will later return to their Doctor of the Church with another bust of chlamydia . When scientists have looked at these sheath , they ’ve sometimes found that people were reinfected by strains genetically identical or very similar to the bacteria that first infected them .
It ’s potential thatsome of these casescome from an infection that was n’t actually fully treated , from having sex with the same untreated partner who in the first place circularize the infection , or from take on with a sex activity toy contaminated from earlier use ( this is less likely since the bacterium do n’t live on very long outside our bodies ) . But some research has alsosuggestedthat chlamydia bacterium can constitute a obscure artificial lake elsewhere in the body , allow for them to persist and cause trouble again when conditions are good .
Other species related toC. trachomatisare known to routinely live in the backbone of their legion , hinting that our chlamydia bacteria can hide there as well . But to date , the research showing that chlamydia persistence is potential has largely been done inanimals . In this new field , publishedthis month in the journalPLOS Pathogens , the researchers say they ’ve come closer to establish that this can indeed happen in multitude .
The scientists grew human gut organoids — miniaturized reading of our organ or tissue — in the science laboratory , then tested whether chlamydia bacteria could successfully taint them . The organoids were made to resemble the layers of cellular phone that line our gut . The bacterium were n’t very undecomposed at infect the “ apical ” open , or the layer of our organs exposed to an external surroundings , of the organoids , the researchers incur . But the bacterium could well taint the gut organoids via the “ basolateral ” surface , or the level of cells relate to other rudimentary tissue and construction , including blood vessels . And when the investigator look more intimately at the bacterium that infected these organoids , they spotted a conversant foe .
“ In this case , we repeatedly found the persistent sort of the bacterium , which can be clearly identify with their distinctive shape under the electron microscope , ” said leash researcher Pargev Hovhannisyan , chairperson of microbiology at the University of Würzburg , in astatementfrom the university .
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The finding alone do n’t provide definitive proof that chlamydia can mill around in our gumption , the researchers caution , so more work will have to be done to confirm and better read this phenomenon . There are other questions leave to be answer should this risk be genuine , such as how exactly chlamydia bacteria connect with the intestine and the specific cells they prefer to hide inside of . But whatever we check , it should n’t switch how sexually active people protect themselves against these bacteria . It remains important to get regularly prove for chlamydia and other STIs ( at least once a twelvemonth , though perchance more ofttimes if you have multiple partners ) , to deliberate consistently using safety or other roadblock method , and to stop your total course of action of antibiotics if you do contract chlamydia .
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