Have Scientists Discovered A Chlamydia Vaccine (And What Does It Mean If They Have)?

The days of waiting anxiously for your STD results might be over, as a new report reveals scientists may have stumbled upon a Chlamydia vaccine

As it stands, it's pretty hard to vaccinate yourself against an STD. And by 'pretty hard', we mean 'impossible'. Yep, aside from HPV, Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B - which you can protect yourself against with the help of a tiny injection - the world of sexually transmitted diseases is a dangerous and, er, uncomfortable place.

Which is why the news that scientists appear to have stumbled upon a potential Chlamydia vaccination is such a big deal. After all, over 200,000 men and women are diagnosed with it in the UK every year - and if it's left untreated, it can cause infertility, chronic pain, miscarriage and even blindness.

The most amazing thing about this discovery is that - like all great discoveries - nobody actually expected it to happen. Apparently scientists have been looking into developing a Chlamydia vaccination for ages - but all of their experiments failed, and the whole thing was put on the back burner for a while as a result.

But when a team of researchers recreated the experiments recently (this time, using mice as test subjects) they suddenly saw where they had been going wrong. And - to skip over all the science to do with lymphocytes and T cells - they found a way to give the little mouslings up to six months of protection from the STD.

Of course, as with all things medical, that doesn't mean we can expect to be innoculated against Chlamydia in the next few weeks. (After all, how long have we been waiting for the male pill?) Instead, the potential vaccination has a long future of testing ahead before it'll be rolled out to the public. But it's definitely a step in the right direction.

Not as much of a step as just wearing a condom though. Obvs.