Regular tests can reduce women's risk of infertility

WOMEN should get tested for Chlamydia each time they have a new sexual partner, researchers said yesterday.

Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the UK and can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, leaving women infertile.

Researchers warn that women should be tested every time they start seeing a new partner, even if it is just a few months since they were last tested.

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They are worried that women may see themselves as having the "all-clear" following a negative result when they are still at risk.

Their research found it was unlikely that one-off screening for Chlamydia will prevent women developing pelvic inflammatory disease in the following year.

Writing online in the British Medical Journal, they said: "Although some evidence suggests that screening for Chlamydia reduces rates of pelvic inflammatory disease, especially in women with Chlamydial infection at baseline, the effectiveness of a single Chlamydia test in preventing pelvic inflammatory disease over 12 months may have been overestimated."