Amid rising cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, US health authorities suggested Monday that doctors should prescribe an antibiotic as a preventive measure to certain at-risk people after unprotected sex.
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Doxycycline, an antibiotic developed decades ago, can then be taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.
In clinical trials, this medication has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of infection with these three sexually transmitted diseases (chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis) when taken prophylactically after condomless intercourse by gay men and transgender women.
The new recommendations from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), which are subject to a public comment period before final adoption, only affect those groups of people considered most at risk.
In fact, expanding access to doxycycline also raises concerns: antibiotic resistance could develop, particularly in gonorrhea, a bacterium that mutates quickly. But research on this topic remains reassuring for now.
Above all, this antibiotic represents a welcome new weapon in the fight against these sexually transmitted infections. Some doctors, having heard of the latest scientific studies, have even started prescribing it for this purpose.
Cases of these three bacterial infections have been increasing for a decade, reaching 2.5 million in the United States in 2021.
Firstly, because mechanically: the more infections there are, the more they are transmitted. But also because condoms have been used less and less since the introduction of Prep – a drug to prevent AIDS.
“Innovation and creativity are important for public health, and we urgently need new tools,” CDC official Jonathan Mermin told AFP before the announcement.