To screen for or diagnose chlamydia infection.
If you are sexually active and have one or more risk factors for developing chlamydia, or have symptoms of infection e.g. discharge from the vagina or penis.
Your health care team may use a swab to take a sample of cells or secretion from the infected area, or you may be asked to provide a urine sample. Women may be asked for a self taken vaginal swab.
Tell your healthcare provider about any use of antibiotics or, for women, douches or vaginal creams; you may be asked to avoid using these within 24 hours before testing vaginal samples since they may affect test results. Menstruation will not affect results. For a urine sample, you may be instructed to wait one to two hours after you last urinated before collecting the sample. Follow any instructions you are given.
The test is looking for evidence of infection by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, the most common bacterial sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the United Kingdom.