More than 250,000 cases of acute epididymitis caused by Chlamydia are reported in the U.S. every year. Chlamydia may also cause Reiter's syndrome usually in young men. The recurrence of arthritis becomes a disability for one out of three men who develop Reiter s syndrome. Between 20 and 50 percent of the children born to women with Chlamydia will also be infected. Every year, more than 180,000 newborn infants suffer eye infections and pneumonia as a result of being born to women with Chlamydia.
Symptoms usually begin within four weeks of birth.
Children who were infected at birth may develop ear infections, eye infections that can cause blindness, and a kind of pneumonia that can be fatal. Ear and respiratory infections caused by Chlamydia in infants are harder to treat than Chlamydia infections in adults. As well as infecting the newborn, Chlamydia infections may cause heavy bleeding before delivery. There are some indications that Chlamydia also causes premature rupture of the membranes and premature delivery. Chlamydia infections may also be associated with miscarriage, stillbirth, or low infant birthweight.