Expert: Trisin - 10/14/2006

Question
If a person has all the symptons of a STD, such as chlamydia, but when a vaginal swab is done and it shows no infection.  Why is this possible.  Even though years later they  develop diseased fallopian tubes, PID, etc.  Why would the vaginal swab testing done not show anything.

Answer
Hello, how are you? Let me start by saying that so many different things can cause chlamydia-like symptoms.

Although STD caused PID is largely due to Gonorhea and Chlamydia, just because a person have all the signs and symptoms, does not neccesarily mean that she has chlamydia. It could be bacterial vaginosis. This is when there is a change in balance of bacteria that lives in the vagina.

Just because a person experiences diarhea, fever, and a cough, doesn't mean they have a disease. So many diseases produce the same signs and symptoms. A person should not conclude they he or she has a disease, just because they show the symptoms.

If a chlamydia swab test result is negative, then there are two common reasons for this:  
1) Mainly because the person does not have chlamydia
2) The swab collection was performed incorrectly.
(There are many causes for a false-negative result. This is one; chlamydia is an intracellular pathogen, and swabs should aim at collecting columnar-epithelial cells.)

If a person suspects  he or she has contracted an STD, a full STD panel should be performed. These series of tests should include blood tests,urine tests, swabs, and cultures. His/her doctor should be able to intepret and analyze the results and give them good reliable conclusions.

There are so many many different things that can cause chlmaydia-like symptoms.