infectious diseases
Chlamydia and Mycoplasmal Mucosal Infections
Symptoms and Signs of Chlamydia
 develop symptomatic urethritis after a 7- to 28-day incubation period, usually beginning with mild dysuria, discomfort in the urethra, and a clear to mucopurulent discharge. Discharge may be slight, and symptoms may be mild but are frequently more marked early in the morning; then, the urethral meatus is often red and blocked with dried secretions, which may also stain underclothes. Occasionally, onset is more acute and severe, with severe dysuria, frequency, and a copious, purulent discharge that simulates gonococcal urethritis. Infection may progress to Epididymitis . After rectal or orogenital contact with an infected person, are usually asymptomatic, although vaginal discharge, dysuria, increased urinary frequency and urgency, pelvic pain, dyspareunia, and symptoms of urethritis may occur. Cervicitis with yellow, mucopurulent exudate and cervical ectopy (expansion of the red endocervical epithelium onto the vaginal surfaces of the cervix) are characteristic. Chlamydiae may be transferred to the eye, causing Acute Bacterial Conjunctivitis . Reactive Arthritis caused by immunologic reactions to genital and intestinal infections is an infrequent complication of chlamydial infections in adults. Reactive arthritis sometimes is accompanied by skin lesions (keratoderma blennorrhagicum), eye lesions ( A small number of patients with chlamydial reactive arthritis experience a syndrome of arthritis accompanied by skin changes on their feet (keratoderma blennorrhagicum), conjunctivitis, uveitis, urethritis, or balanitis in reaction to chlamydial infection. Image courtesy of Susan Lindsley via the Public Health Image Library of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A small number of patients with chlamydial reactive arthritis experience a syndrome of arthritis accompanied by skin changes on their feet (keratoderma blennorrhagicum), conjunctivitis, uveitis, urethritis, or balanitis in reaction to chlamydial infection. Image courtesy of Joe Miller via the Public Health Image Library of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A small number of patients with chlamydial reactive arthritis experience a syndrome of arthritis accompanied by skin changes on their feet (keratoderma blennorrhagicum), conjunctivitis, uveitis, urethritis, or balanitis in reaction to chlamydial infection. Image courtesy of Drs. Weisner and Kaufman via the Public Health Image Library of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. born to women with chlamydial cervicitis may develop Chlamydial Pneumonia or ophthalmia neonatorum ( 