The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), part of the US Department of Health, is formulating new recommendations for the use of doxycycline to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, as the number of cases increases in the United States, according to the Associated Press.
This was announced by Dr. Leandro Mena, director of the sexually transmitted disease prevention division at the federal agency.
Doxycycline is an inexpensive antibiotic on the US market, which has been used for nearly 50 years to treat some types of infections.
And a study by researchers at the University of California, published last week, in the “New England Journal”, showed its ability to prevent sexually transmitted infections.
The study was conducted on 500 gay men, bisexual men, and transgender women in Seattle and San Francisco, who had previous infections with these diseases.
Participants took one doxycycline pill within 72 hours of having unprotected sex.
The researchers found that those who took the pills were 90 percent less likely to contract chlamydia, regarding 80 percent less likely to develop syphilis, and more than 50 percent less likely to develop gonorrhea, compared to people who did not take the pills following sex. .
It won’t be a silver bullet, but it’s a good way to use an antibiotic to prevent infection, said Dr. Philip Andrew Chan, who is collaborating with the CDC on the recommendations.
And the drug has side effects such as stomach problems and skin rashes following exposure to sunlight.
Experts fear that the widespread use of the drug may cause bacteria to become resistant to it, as has happened with other types of other antibiotics.
Experts believe that STIs have increased as a result of decreased condom use, inadequate sex education, and a limited number of tests to detect these diseases during the Covid pandemic.
