This page is general health information, not medical advice. It cannot tell you whether you have an infection. A clinician can, and the testing options on this site are a good place to start.

Chlamydia is one of the most common bacterial infections that spreads through sex, and it is also one of the easiest to treat. The challenge is that it often gives no signal at all. Many people in San Antonio carry it without knowing, which is why testing matters more than watching for symptoms.

This guide explains what the symptoms of chlamydia can look like, who should be screened, how testing works, and how chlamydia treatment works when a clinician prescribes it. It also covers partners, retesting, privacy rules for teens in Texas, and the free and low-cost places to get tested in Bexar County.

Key takeaways

The CDC says most people with chlamydia have no symptoms, so a person can have it and feel completely fine.
Only a test can show whether chlamydia is present. Symptoms alone cannot tell you, and a clinician can help you read your results.
Chlamydia is curable. The CDC STI Treatment Guidelines (2021) call for antibiotics that a clinician prescribes.
The CDC and the USPSTF recommend yearly screening for sexually active women under 25 and for older women with higher chances of infection. The CDC also recommends at least yearly screening for sexually active gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.
The CDC recommends retesting about three months after treatment, because reinfection is common.
Partners should be tested and treated too. Texas has no EPT statute, but state rules allow partner treatment in some situations. Ask your clinician.
San Antonio has free and sliding-scale options, plus free mailed at-home kits from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).

In this guide

What chlamydia is and what symptoms can look like
Who should be screened for chlamydia
How chlamydia testing works
Is chlamydia curable? Treatment explained
Partners, retesting and preventing reinfection
Chlamydia in San Antonio: the local picture
Where to get tested and treated in San Antonio

What chlamydia is and what symptoms can look like

Chlamydia is an infection caused by a bacterium called Chlamydia trachomatis. The CDC explains that it spreads through vaginal, anal or oral sex, and it can pass from a pregnant person to a baby during birth. Anyone of any gender or orientation who has sex can get it. Having it says nothing about a person's character or choices.

Because it is a bacterial infection, it responds to antibiotics. That is the good news, and it is why finding it matters.

Why many people notice nothing

The CDC reports that most people with chlamydia do not have symptoms. When symptoms do appear, they may take weeks to show up after the infection begins. Some people never notice anything.

This is why the phrase “I feel fine” is not a reliable guide. Feeling fine and having an infection can both be true at once. Only a test can tell the difference, and a clinician can explain what a result means for you.

Symptoms of chlamydia that people may notice

When symptoms do occur, the CDC describes these patterns. None of them proves chlamydia, because other conditions can cause the same signs. They are reasons to talk with a clinician and get tested.

In people with a vagina or cervix, symptoms can include:

An unusual vaginal discharge.
A burning feeling when urinating.
Bleeding between periods or after sex.
Pain in the lower belly or pelvis.

In people with a penis, symptoms can include:

Discharge from the penis.
A burning feeling when urinating.
Pain or swelling in one or both testicles, which is less common.

In the rectum or throat:

Rectal infection can cause pain, discharge or bleeding, though it often causes none.
Throat infection usually causes no symptoms.

Notice that the same list does not depend on gender identity or orientation. What matters is which body parts were exposed. A clinician can ask about your body and your sexual contact so the right sites are tested.

What can happen if chlamydia is not treated

The CDC says untreated chlamydia can lead to health problems, mostly because it can go unnoticed for a long time.

In people with a cervix and uterus: the infection can spread to the reproductive organs and cause pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). PID can cause long-lasting pelvic pain, can make it harder to become pregnant later, and raises the chance of an ectopic pregnancy, which is a pregnancy outside the uterus.
In people with a penis: the infection can cause painful inflammation of the tube behind the testicle (epididymitis). Serious long-term problems are less common.
In pregnancy: chlamydia can pass to the baby during delivery and can cause eye infections or pneumonia in newborns.
Other effects: the CDC notes that having chlamydia can make it easier to get HIV if exposed.

These outcomes are the reason clinicians encourage screening. Finding and treating chlamydia early helps prevent them.

Who should be screened for chlamydia

Screening means testing people who have no symptoms. It is one of the main tools for catching an infection that would otherwise go unseen. The guidance below comes from the CDC STI Treatment Guidelines (2021) and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).

Recommended yearly screening

Sexually active women under 25. The USPSTF recommends screening for chlamydia in sexually active women 24 years and younger, and the CDC recommends yearly screening for this group.
Older women with higher chances of infection. The USPSTF and the CDC recommend screening women 25 and older who have risk factors, such as a new sex partner, more than one partner, a partner who has other partners, or a partner who has an STI.
Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. The CDC recommends at least yearly screening at the sites of contact, which can include the urethra, rectum and throat. The CDC says more frequent screening, such as every three to six months, may be useful for people with higher chances of infection.
Pregnant people. The CDC recommends screening at the first prenatal visit for those under 25 and for older pregnant people with risk factors. A clinician decides whether repeat testing later in pregnancy is useful.
People with HIV. The CDC recommends screening at the first HIV care visit and at least yearly after that, depending on sexual activity.

Where the evidence is thinner

The USPSTF has said there is not enough evidence to recommend for or against routine chlamydia screening in sexually active men in general. That is not the same as saying testing is unnecessary. It means guidelines have not set a routine schedule for every man. Anyone with symptoms, a new partner, a partner who was diagnosed, or a reason to wonder can ask a clinician about testing at any time.

Testing in addition to screening schedules

Beyond the yearly schedule, it is reasonable to ask for a test when:

A partner tells you they tested positive for chlamydia or another STI.
You have a new partner or more than one partner.
You notice any symptoms listed above.
You are starting or continuing HIV PrEP, since PrEP care usually includes regular STI testing.
You want peace of mind after a condom broke or was not used.

If you are not sure which group applies to you, a clinician at a walk-in clinic can talk through it. Asking is routine and no one will judge you for it.

How chlamydia testing works

Chlamydia testing is quick and usually painless. The CDC recommends a type of test called a nucleic acid amplification test, or NAAT. A NAAT looks for the genetic material of the bacteria, which makes it very good at detecting infection. No test is perfect, so a clinician can help you interpret results in the context of your situation.

What kind of sample is collected

The sample depends on the body part exposed:

Urine. A first-catch urine sample works for people with a penis. The CDC says to avoid urinating for a short time before the test, and the clinic will tell you what to do.
Vaginal swab. The CDC calls a vaginal swab the preferred sample for people with a vagina. It can be collected by a clinician or by the person themselves in a private space.
Rectal or throat swab. If you have had anal or oral sex, ask for swabs from those sites. A urine test alone can miss infection in the rectum or throat.

Some clinics offer only urine testing, so it is worth asking in advance if you need other sites checked.

When to test after a possible exposure

Testing too soon after a possible exposure can miss an infection, because the bacteria may not yet be detectable. The CDC does not give one universal waiting number that fits every situation. A clinician can tell you whether to test now, test later, or do both. If you have symptoms, test right away rather than waiting.

Getting results

Turnaround time depends on where you test. The San Antonio AIDS Foundation says gonorrhea and chlamydia results come back in 7 to 10 days through the DSHS lab. DSHS says its free mailed kits post results to a secure online portal seven business days after the sample reaches the lab. For other clinics, ask when you are tested. Clinics should tell you how they will contact you, and if you do not hear back, call them.

What a result means

A positive result means the test found chlamydia. A negative result means the test did not find it at that time and site. Neither result is a judgment. A negative result does not cover infections picked up after the test, and it does not cover other STIs the test did not check for. Many people choose to test for several STIs at once. Chlamydia and gonorrhea are often tested together, and syphilis and HIV are commonly added.

Chlamydia is reportable in Texas. The Texas DSHS notifiable conditions list for 2026 includes chlamydia, and labs and clinicians report it to the health department within one week. This is routine public health work. It helps the health department track trends and, in some cases, helps make sure people get treated.

Is chlamydia curable? Treatment explained

Yes. Chlamydia is curable. The CDC STI Treatment Guidelines (2021) recommend antibiotic treatment, and a clinician prescribes it. When treatment is taken as directed, the infection can be cleared.

If you searched for “is chlamydia curable” because you were worried, the plain answer is that it is one of the more straightforward infections to treat. It does not require a lifelong plan, unlike some viral infections.

What chlamydia treatment looks like

Chlamydia treatment is a prescription. A clinician chooses the antibiotic and tells you exactly how to take it, based on your health, any allergies, other medicines and whether you are pregnant. This guide does not list doses or schedules, because those are for your clinician and pharmacist to give you.

Some practical points from CDC guidance:

Finish the full prescription, even if symptoms ease sooner.
Pause sex during treatment. The CDC advises avoiding sex until treatment is finished, and for 7 days afterward, and until partners have been treated as well. This lowers the chance of passing the infection back and forth.
Pregnancy needs its own plan. Some antibiotics are not used in pregnancy, so tell the clinician if you are or might be pregnant. The CDC also advises a follow-up test about four weeks after treatment in pregnancy.
Tell the clinician about symptoms that continue. If you still have symptoms after treatment, go back. They may reflect another cause or a new infection.

What treatment does not do

Treatment clears the current infection. It does not give lasting protection. You can get chlamydia again if you are exposed again, which is why partner treatment and retesting matter. Treatment also cannot reverse damage that happened before the infection was found, which is another reason early testing helps.

Doxy-PEP and chlamydia

In 2024 the CDC issued guidance on doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis, often called doxy-PEP. It is an antibiotic that a clinician may prescribe to take after sex to reduce the chance of certain bacterial STIs. The CDC says it can lower the chance of chlamydia and syphilis, and has less effect on gonorrhea. The CDC recommends that clinicians discuss doxy-PEP with gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men and transgender women who had a bacterial STI in the past year.

Doxy-PEP is a prescribed option, not a substitute for testing, and it does not protect against HIV or viral infections. In San Antonio, the San Antonio AIDS Foundation lists PrEP and doxy-PEP among its services. Kind Clinic says doxy-PEP is available to Kind Clinic patients only. Ask the clinic about eligibility.

Partners, retesting and preventing reinfection

Treating one person is only half the picture. If a partner still carries chlamydia, the infection can pass back after treatment. This is a common reason people test positive again.

Telling and treating partners

The CDC recommends that people who test positive for chlamydia tell any sex partners from the previous 60 days so they can be tested and treated. If you had no partners in that window, the CDC advises telling the most recent partner. This can feel awkward, but it is a normal part of care, and it protects both of you.

Some tips that may help the conversation:

Keep it factual and short: you were tested, the result was positive, and they should get tested too.
Remind them that chlamydia is common and treatable.
Let them know there are free testing options in San Antonio.
If you do not feel safe telling someone, ask the clinic or the health department about confidential notification help.

Expedited partner therapy in Texas

Expedited partner therapy (EPT) means a clinician can provide treatment for a partner without seeing that partner first. The CDC's page on the legal status of EPT in Texas says the state has no EPT statute. Instead, the legal basis comes from administrative rules:

The Texas Medical Board rule says a physician does not need a practitioner-patient relationship to prescribe STD medications for the partners of the physician's established patient (22 Tex. Admin. Code Sec. 190.8).
Advanced practice registered nurses may order or prescribe STD medications for partners of an established patient, but are not required to (22 Tex. Admin. Code Sec. 222.4).
Pharmacists may dispense these partner prescriptions without a physician-partner relationship, and the partner's name does not have to appear on the label (22 Tex. Admin. Code Sec. 291.29 and 291.33).

In practice, whether EPT is offered depends on the clinician. Ask your clinician whether they provide it. A partner who can get to a clinic is still encouraged to be tested, since a visit can check for other infections and a clinician can consider that person's own health.

Retesting about three months after treatment

The CDC recommends that anyone treated for chlamydia be retested about three months after treatment, whether or not they think their partners were treated. The reason is that reinfection is common and often has no symptoms either. If you cannot make it at three months, the CDC says to test whenever you next see a clinician within the following year.

This retest is not a sign that treatment failed. It is simply a check that nothing new has taken hold.

Ways to lower the chance of getting chlamydia

Use condoms or other barrier methods consistently and correctly. The CDC says they lower the chance of chlamydia but do not remove it.
Test regularly based on your situation, and encourage partners to do the same.
Talk with partners about testing before starting a new sexual relationship.
Ask a clinician about doxy-PEP if you fall in a group where the CDC recommends discussing it.

Chlamydia in San Antonio: the local picture

San Antonio is in Bexar County, and the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (Metro Health) serves the area. Numbers help show why routine testing is part of ordinary health care here, not a rare event.

According to the Texas DSHS Texas STD Surveillance Report (2022 annual report), Bexar County had 12,305 reported chlamydia cases in 2022. The report does not print a Bexar County rate for chlamydia, so this guide does not give one. For context, the same DSHS report counted 156,131 reported chlamydia cases across Texas in 2022, a rate of 519.9 per 100,000 people.

Gonorrhea is often tested for at the same visit. The DSHS 2022 report lists 5,983 gonorrhea cases in Bexar County, a rate of 290.5 per 100,000, compared with a Texas rate of 207.0 per 100,000 that year. Both counts come from DSHS and use the same year.

Remember what these numbers are. They are reported cases, and since most chlamydia has no symptoms, reported cases only include people who were tested. Reported numbers also depend on how much testing happens. DSHS notes that prior-year numbers may shift slightly as data are cleaned. The most recent full DSHS report available was for 2022, so newer figures may differ.

The takeaway is not alarm. It is that chlamydia is common enough locally that screening is a normal part of staying well, and that San Antonio has many places to do it.

Where to get tested and treated in San Antonio

You do not need insurance to get tested in San Antonio. The options below come from each organization's own published information. Hours and services change, so call before you go. For a broader look at clinics across the city, see our guide to STD testing in San Antonio.

Public health and free testing sites

Metro Health STI Walk-In Clinic
512 E. Highland, Suite 150, San Antonio, TX 78210. Phone: 210-207-8830. Metro Health lists STI and HIV testing, treatment and counseling. Its page lists a $15 office visit administrative fee, and says other fees vary by service. The clinic serves residents of San Antonio and Bexar County, and people with no other means of getting STI services. A photo ID is required, and the clinic does not offer anonymous testing. Hours listed by Metro Health are Monday to Thursday 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (latest check-in 3 p.m.) and Friday 7:45 a.m. to noon (latest check-in 10:30 a.m.). Check-in may close early if the clinic is at capacity, so arriving early is wise. Details are on the Metro Health STI Walk-In Clinic page.

San Antonio AIDS Foundation (SAAF)
818 E. Grayson Street, San Antonio, TX 78208. Phone: (210) 225-4715. SAAF lists rapid HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia testing, and says screening and confirmatory services are free with no appointment needed. Its listed hours are Monday 8:30 to 4:00, Tuesday 12:00 to 8:00, Wednesday and Thursday 8:30 to 4:00, Friday 9:00 to 1:00, and Saturday 11:00 to 3:00. It is closed Sunday. SAAF's page describes testing, and its outpatient care is HIV care, so ask whether they can treat chlamydia on site or will refer you. See the SAAF testing page.

Alamo Area Resource Center (AARC)
303 N. Frio, San Antonio, TX 78207. Phone: (210) 625-7200. AARC lists free testing for HIV, hepatitis C, syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. Walk-ins are listed Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with Wednesday open until 8 p.m. See the AARC testing page.

Kind Clinic, San Antonio (Isom)
730 Isom Road, San Antonio, TX 78216. Kind Clinic's general support line is 833-937-5463, and it lists no location-specific number. Kind Clinic describes HIV and STI testing, STI treatment, HIV care, PrEP and PEP, with free walk-in testing. The clinic's listed hours are Monday, Tuesday and Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and the second and fourth Saturdays 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Walk-in testing hours differ from clinic hours, so confirm by phone. See Kind Clinic locations.

BEAT AIDS
Phone: 210.212.2266. BEAT AIDS says it offers free, confidential HIV testing and PrEP, and confidential testing and treatment for common STIs. Its site does not say which San Antonio location does the testing, so call to confirm where to go and whether walk-ins are accepted. Visit the BEAT AIDS homepage.

Low-cost community health centers

CommuniCare Apollo Wellness Clinic
6511 W Loop 1604 N, Ste. 105, San Antonio, TX 78254. Phone: (726) 224-3438. CommuniCare lists STD and HIV screening and testing, with hours Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It offers a sliding fee discount for self-pay patients with family income under 200% of the federal poverty guidelines. Ask whether walk-ins are accepted. See the CommuniCare STD and HIV testing page.

CentroMed
Phone: 210-922-7000. CentroMed lists screening and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases under its women's health services, with a sliding fee scale based on income and family size. It says patients are not denied for inability to pay. Its pages do not say which clinic location to use for STI visits, so call first. See CentroMed women's health.

Free at-home testing from the state

Texas DSHS runs a program called Test for Texas. DSHS says it provides free mailed at-home kits for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia to anyone in Texas aged 13 or older, with no insurance needed. You order at testfortexas.org, and results appear in a secure portal seven business days after the sample reaches the lab. See the DSHS page on free at-home testing. If a result is positive, you will still need a clinic visit to get treatment.

You can also use the CDC's locator at gettested.cdc.gov to find testing sites by ZIP code.

What to expect at your visit

Bring a photo ID if you are going to Metro Health.
Expect questions about your sexual contact so the clinician can choose the right tests. You can ask why any question is asked.
You may give a urine sample, a swab, or both.
Ask how and when you will get results, and how the clinic will reach you.
If treatment is needed, ask whether the clinic can prescribe it or where to go.

Teens, privacy and the law in Texas

Under Texas Family Code Sec. 32.003, a minor of any age may consent to diagnosis and treatment of a reportable infectious or communicable disease, which includes chlamydia. Parent or guardian consent is not needed for that care. The Texas DSHS publication “HIV and Texas Law” says the same for reportable diseases.

One detail matters for privacy. The statute lets a physician tell a parent or guardian about the treatment, with or without the minor's consent. That is permitted, not required. A teen who is worried about this can ask the clinician about their privacy practices before the visit starts.

For everyone, chlamydia results are reported to the health department as described earlier. This is a public health reporting step and does not mean your result is shared with employers or the public.

Common questions

Can chlamydia go away on its own? Do not count on that. The CDC recommends antibiotic treatment because untreated infection can cause lasting harm, even when there are no symptoms.

How soon after treatment can I have sex? The CDC advises waiting until treatment is finished and for 7 days afterward, and until your partners have been treated. Your clinician can confirm the right timing for you.

Will I need to pay? It depends on where you go. Several San Antonio sites list free testing. Metro Health lists a $15 administrative fee, and CommuniCare and CentroMed use sliding fee scales. If a clinic's page does not list a price, call and ask.

Can I be tested while pregnant? Yes. Tell the clinician you are pregnant. The CDC recommends screening at the first prenatal visit for people under 25 and for older people with risk factors.

What if I test positive? A positive result can be unsettling, but chlamydia is curable. Get the prescription from a clinician, take it as directed, tell recent partners, and plan a retest at about three months.

A calm next step

If you have symptoms, a new partner, a partner who tested positive, or simply have not been tested in the last year, a test is a reasonable step. Pick a clinic from the list above, call ahead to confirm hours, and go. For most people, the whole process takes less time than a lunch break, and it leaves you with real information.

Chlamydia: Symptoms, Testing and Treatment in San Antonio