The next morning, Angela and Sammy went to their lecture hall for introductory biology. The class was filled with hundreds of students trying to pile in, and the pair quickly took seats near the front of the room. The rest of the syllabus week went by quickly, and the semester was well underway until one day Sammy started to feel really sick. Angela knocked on the bathroom door and asked, "Sammy, you okay? What are you doing in there? You've been in the bathroom a long time and I need to shower before class." Sammy groaned, "Ugh, no. I don't know, something weird is going on. It really hurts to pee." "What? Really? That's not good. You know there's a health clinic here, right? It's actually right down the road," Angela replied. Sammy soon found her way to the women's health clinic. During her appointment, the nurse asked Sammy a bunch of uncomfortable questions, such as, "Have you been sexually active in the last year?" Sammy nervously replied, "Um, yeah." The nurse quickly filled out an online report and then followed up with more questions. "So in the past 12 months, how many sexual partners have you had?" "Well, just the one," said Sammy. The nurse continued, "Is this a past or current partner?" "Past, but it was weeks ago." "Did you use any kind of protection?" "No." "Have you ever been tested for sexually transmitted diseases?" "No." The nurse explained that she would perform a vaginal swab in order to screen for different types of sexually transmit- ted diseases (STDs), including gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomonas. She also suggested doing blood work to test for HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and C. She explained to Sammy, "Many people who contract STDs have no symptoms at all, and if symptoms such as abnormal discharge or burning during urination do appear, they may not even occur until several weeks after sex with an infected partner. This can lead people who are asymptomatic to spread the STD to other partners without knowing it. It's always a good idea to get tested at least once during the year if you are sexually active. We'll get the results from your blood work and vaginal swab in one to two days, and we'll let you know what our next steps will be for treatment, if necessary. If you do need any treatment, we'll set up a follow-up appointment and get you taken care of." The next day, Sammy's test results came back from the health clinic and she was officially diagnosed with chlamydia. When she returned to the health clinic, she was given a prescription for an antibiotic treatment of doxycycline. The nurse told her to take one antibiotic pill in the morning and one pill at night for seven days straight. Two days into Sammy's treatment, she started to feel better. She tried to follow the instructions given by the nurse, but things were getting hectic with her schoolwork, so on the third morning she forgot to take a morning pill. The next night, she took two pills to compensate. On the fourth day of her treatment, Sammy forgot to take the antibiotics. Since she had been feeling better anyway, she stopped taking the antibiotic pills altogether. It was almost two weeks later when in the middle of the night, Sammy woke up with a stabbing pain in her lower abdomen. She got up to go to the bathroom, but it hurt so much to pee. She called out in pain, "Angela! Can you help me get to the health clinic?" Angela woke up and tried to help Sammy out of the bathroom, but Sammy could barely stand up. She touched Sammy's forehead and found that Sammy was burning up. Angela was very worried about her and replied, "It's like 1 am and they're definitely not open. Maybe we should go to the hospital. Something could be really wrong." Figure 1a. Initial chlamydia infection. Figure 1b. Three days into the doxycycline treat treatment. Figure 1c. Sammy stops taking her antibiotic pills. Figure 1d. One week after the doxycycline treatment. Figure 1e. Two weeks after the doxycycline treatment.

The next morning, Angela and Sammy went to their lecture hall for introductory biology. The class was filled with hundreds of students trying to pile in, and the pair quickly took seats near the front of the room. The rest of the syllabus week went by quickly, and the semester was well underway until one day Sammy started to feel really sick. Angela knocked on the bathroom door and asked, "Sammy, you okay? What are you doing in there? You've been in the bathroom a long time and I need to shower before class." Sammy groaned, "Ugh, no. I don't know, something weird is going on. It really hurts to pee." "What? Really? That's not good. You know there's a health clinic here, right? It's actually right down the road," Angela replied. Sammy soon found her way to the women's health clinic. During her appointment, the nurse asked Sammy a bunch of uncomfortable questions, such as, "Have you been sexually active in the last year?" Sammy nervously replied, "Um, yeah." The nurse quickly filled out an online report and then followed up with more questions. "So in the past 12 months, how many sexual partners have you had?" "Well, just the one," said Sammy. The nurse continued, "Is this a past or current partner?" "Past, but it was weeks ago." "Did you use any kind of protection?" "No." "Have you ever been tested for sexually transmitted diseases?" "No." The nurse explained that she would perform a vaginal swab in order to screen for different types of sexually transmit- ted diseases (STDs), including gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomonas. She also suggested doing blood work to test for HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and C. She explained to Sammy, "Many people who contract STDs have no symptoms at all, and if symptoms such as abnormal discharge or burning during urination do appear, they may not even occur until several weeks after sex with an infected partner. This can lead people who are asymptomatic to spread the STD to other partners without knowing it. It's always a good idea to get tested at least once during the year if you are sexually active. We'll get the results from your blood work and vaginal swab in one to two days, and we'll let you know what our next steps will be for treatment, if necessary. If you do need any treatment, we'll set up a follow-up appointment and get you taken care of." The next day, Sammy's test results came back from the health clinic and she was officially diagnosed with chlamydia. When she returned to the health clinic, she was given a prescription for an antibiotic treatment of doxycycline. The nurse told her to take one antibiotic pill in the morning and one pill at night for seven days straight. Two days into Sammy's treatment, she started to feel better. She tried to follow the instructions given by the nurse, but things were getting hectic with her schoolwork, so on the third morning she forgot to take a morning pill. The next night, she took two pills to compensate. On the fourth day of her treatment, Sammy forgot to take the antibiotics. Since she had been feeling better anyway, she stopped taking the antibiotic pills altogether. It was almost two weeks later when in the middle of the night, Sammy woke up with a stabbing pain in her lower abdomen. She got up to go to the bathroom, but it hurt so much to pee. She called out in pain, "Angela! Can you help me get to the health clinic?" Angela woke up and tried to help Sammy out of the bathroom, but Sammy could barely stand up. She touched Sammy's forehead and found that Sammy was burning up. Angela was very worried about her and replied, "It's like 1 am and they're definitely not open. Maybe we should go to the hospital. Something could be really wrong." Figure 1a. Initial chlamydia infection. Figure 1b. Three days into the doxycycline treat treatment. Figure 1c. Sammy stops taking her antibiotic pills. Figure 1d. One week after the doxycycline treatment. Figure 1e. Two weeks after the doxycycline treatment.