CDC Thinks Low-Cost “Morning-After” Medication Could Stop Rise in STDs

Researchers say that a cheaper antibiotic could be the answer to slow down the spread of STDs in the US.

According to Dr. Leandro Mena, director of the agency’s STD prevention division, the CDC is currently developing guidelines for people to take doxycycline, a medication is used to treat bacterial infections and prevent malaria.

More than 2.5 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis were reported by the CDC in 2021, prompting the reimagining of the drug, which would be taken as a morning-after pill.

“Sexually transmitted infections are an enormous, low-priority public health problem,” said Dr. John M. Douglas Jr., a retired health official who lectures at the Colorado School of Public Health.

“And they’ve been a low-priority problem for decades, in spite of the fact that they are the most commonly reported kind of infectious disease.”

Researchers from San Francisco and Seattle discovered that taking a 200-milligram dose of doxycycline within three days of unprotected sex lowered the risk of developing bacterial STIs, namely gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis, by two-thirds every three months.

According to researchers, the drug has limitations, such as being ineffective in heterosexual women and causing side effects such as stomach problems, sun sensitivity, and rashes.

The drug won’t “be a magic cure,” according to Dr. Philip Andrew Chan; rather, it will be “another tool” in the fight against the STD epidemic.

“We do need new approaches, new innovations” to tackle the widespread problem, he said.

Researchers are currently praising the results of their investigation into doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (Doxy-PEP).

“Doxy-PEP is a promising strategy to reduce sexually transmitted infections in populations that are disproportionately affected by high rates of sexually transmitted infections, specifically, men who have sex with men and transgender women who have had recent STIs,” said Dr. Connie Celum, professor of global health, medicine, and epidemiology at the University of Washington.

“It will be important to monitor the impact of doxy-PEP on antibiotic resistance over time and weigh this against the demonstrated benefit of reduced STIs.”