Pregnant Wife tested positve for Chlamydia

Hi,

My wife is 4 months pregnant and tested positive yesterday for chlamydia. We have a 2 and a half year old son. We have been together for almost 7 years. My wife was tested for chlamydia in 2001 and was negative. I am never been in a position to contract chlamydia since we have been together, and my wife is claiming the same. Her doctor told her after the positive test that I have been cheating on her. I know for a fact that I have not. I have asked her to get re-tested today and am very scared. My wife thinks I have been unfaithful and this will most definately destroy our family and our life together. I believe my wife when she says she has been faithful. My question is about how long chlamydia could possibly been in my system? Could it have lasted over 7 years? Can chlamydia be contratced in any other way other than oral, vaginal or anal sex? I believe my wife had a urine test for this. Is it possible it is a false-positive? I have been searching for info on the internet for hours and I cannot confirm if this is possible. I do not know what to do.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Assuming your facts are correct both about your wife's sexual fidelity and yours, almost certainly this is a false positive test.  The likelihood of false positivity varies with the specific test that was done, and you might ask the provider about it.  For example, if this was one of the older (but still commonly used) tests, such as the Gen-Probe Pace II test, that's one with a high rate of false positives.  But such results can occur with any test.

Carriage of chlamydia for more than 4 years has never been proved, and that is rare; 7 years would be extraordinary.  But nobody can say it is impossible.

I hope this helps.  Best wishes--

HHH, MD

[sparkeler]

I don't think urine tests are an acurrate diagnosis for chlamydia.  Urine test MAY indicate infection, but I don't believe it's a reliable test I could be wrong.    

Doctors should take cultures from the discharge of a women's cervix & send it off to the lab for testing. A culture provides the right environment for chlamydia bacteria to grow.  

That said, I do know that pregnant women are more likely to have a false positive chlamydia test then a non pregnant women.  My guess is your wife doesn't have chlamydia at all & the doctor has caused you unwarranted stress.  He may have seen bacteria in the urine & suspected an infection.  Are you sure he said she was positive with certainty?

[ScaredFather]

Thank you very much for the advice. Before I could speak to her, my wife went to her OB\GYN and had another Urine test. We do not know what kind of test they use. I am afraid that this test will give the same result. Should we request the culture test or a non-urine test? I am going to be tested tomorrow morning which will be a culture based test I believe. Is there anything I should be aware of, or ask prior to my test? Should I go to an urologist rather than my regular doctor for this test? Should my wife go to an urologist for the culture test? This has been helpful and given me temporary calm. Any advice is appreciated.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

I missed the fact that your wife's test was done on urine. In contrast to Sparkeler's advice, the urine tests generally are very accurate.  The only tests approved for use in urine are called nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT).  Their trade names are Aptima (Gen-Probe company), Probe-Tec (Becton-Dickinson), and Amplicor (Roche).  If your wife's urine was tested with anything else, the result is unreliable and you can assume a false positive.

The next step should not be another urine test.  Although urine is excellent, it isn't quite as good as a specimen collected from the cervix during a pelvic exam.  Insist on that.  When it is done, the specimen should be evaluated by 2 different tests:  the same one done before, whatever test it was; plus one of the others.  That is, if she had Aptima before, this time she needs Aptima plus either Probe-Tec or Amplicor.  If it was Amplicor, she needs that plus one of the others.  In order to get the second type of test, your wife's provider might need to find a different laboratory.  Each lab usually provides only one type of test.

Culture could also be done, if available.  But accurate culture tests are hard to find in many geographic areas.  But if you happen to be near a major medical center, accurate chlamydia culture may be available.

If a repeat test, from the cervix, still is positive, it is probably a true result. But my bet is the repeat will be negative, on both tests.

Urologists do not have access to any better testing than ObG providers.  On average, urologists are less knowledgeable about STDs than ObGs.  (Of course there are many exceptions.)  Your wife's primary provider should be fine, as long as s/he will collect cervical swabs and arrange for dual testing.

HHH, MD

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

I forgot to comment on your own testing.  Any provider is fine, including your wife's ObG if s/he will see male patients (and in this case s/he certainly should).  Urine NAAT, with any of the 3 tests I mentioned above, is the best test in males.

[sparkeler]

Thanks for clearing that up.  It's great to learn new things.

[ScaredFather]

Hi,

I just wanted to let everyone know that my wife's test was a false positive. We were both tested for Chlamydia and we both tested NEGATIVE. This was a very upsetting time for us and I appreciated the help from this forum.

Please note that False Positive tests clearly do happen. A colleague of mine has since told me that he has known 2 other couples who have gone through this same thing when pregnant.

Thanks again or the help! I hope this helps someone in a similar situation.