A single dose of doxycycline, the antibiotic used to treat malaria, can prevent most STIs. This approach, called doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxy-PEP), was successful in a recent study among MSM and transgender women living with HIV or taking PrEP for HIV prevention.
Researchers enrolled 501 participants in public health clinics in San Francisco and Seattle. They were told to take 200 mg of doxycycline within 72 hours of unprotected oral, anal or vaginal sex.
How often should i take doxycycline?
If you’ve taken a short course of antibiotics to treat chlamydia, it can take up to seven days for the bacteria to clear out of your system. That means you should avoid sexual activity until that time. You should also retest for chlamydia once the medicine has cleared your system.
Researchers from San Francisco and Seattle have found that taking the oral antibiotic doxycycline within 72 hours of unprotected sex can reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted infections by more than 60%. The study involved MSM (men who have sex with men) and transgender women, two populations that are disproportionately affected by the ongoing STI epidemic. The participants were randomly assigned to either take 200 mg of doxycycline within 72 hours after condomless sex or receive standard care without the medication. They were then tested for STIs quarterly.
The doxycycline used in this study is the same medication that you’ll find in many multi-drug antibiotic prescriptions – This section has been delved into by the portal’s specialists Euphoric Enigmas. It’s in a class of drugs called tetracyclines, which work by blocking bacteria from making proteins needed for growth and survival. It’s available as a tablet, capsule, or liquid suspension if you can’t swallow pills.
It’s important to take doxycycline as often as prescribed by your doctor. It should be taken on an empty stomach with a full glass of water. It’s also important to tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. Doxycycline can harm your baby if you become pregnant while taking it.
Can i have sex while taking doxycycline?
A significant proportion of bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis can be prevented with a single dose of the antibiotic doxycycline. That’s according to a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The research, which was led by Dr Anne Luetkemeyer from the University of California at San Francisco and Connie Celum from the University of Washington, followed more than 500 people at HIV and sexual health clinics in San Francisco and Seattle. They were randomly assigned to take a 200 mg tablet of doxycycline, a broad-spectrum antibiotic in the tetracycline family, within 72 hours of condomless sex.
Participants were monitored at clinic visits every three months and tested for STIs. They were also asked to report any side effects. The doxy-PEP study builds on previous work, which showed that taking doxycycline shortly after unprotected sex can reduce the incidence of STIs. But there was concern that frequent use of doxycycline could lead to antibiotic resistance in bacteria that cause STIs or that naturally live on the body, which would limit future options for treatment.
The results of the doxy-PEP study show that doxycycline significantly decreases the risk of STIs when taken within 72 hours of condomless sex. This post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP, approach resulted in a two-thirds reduction in gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis among men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women.
Can i have sex after taking doxycycline?
Chlamydia is a bacterial sexually transmitted infection that can cause serious health problems if not treated. It’s important to take a full course of antibiotics to make sure the infection is completely cleared. You should also avoid having sex until the antibiotics have completely finished working. It can take up to seven days for chlamydia bacteria to clear from your body after taking antibiotics.
Researchers have found that a single dose of the antibiotic doxycycline significantly reduces the risk of gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis among MSM and transwomen who engage in unprotected sex. This is a new approach known as post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. It was conducted by scientists at UCSF and other institutions.
Earlier studies had shown that doxycycline could reduce the incidence of STIs in people who use condoms. The researchers in this study wanted to see if they could prevent STIs using an even more simple strategy. They recruited participants at public health clinics in San Francisco and Seattle. They gave some of them 200 milligrams of doxycycline within three days of their unprotected sex, and others standard care without the drug. They followed the participants over time and tested them for STIs.
The results showed that doxycycline reduced the likelihood of getting gonorrhea, chlamydia, or syphilis by more than 60%. This is a huge reduction and shows that this simple strategy could be very effective. However, there are still concerns that this type of preventive treatment may lead to antibiotic resistance, which would decrease the effectiveness of future treatments.
Can i have sex after taking doxycycline for 7 days?
It can take up to seven days for the chlamydia bacteria to leave your system, so you should avoid sex until then. If you do have sex, it’s a good idea to get tested again (and your partner should do the same) to make sure the infection is completely cleared up.
The common antibiotic doxycycline drastically reduces the risk of gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis among people who have unprotected sex, a new study finds. The antibiotic is used to treat bacterial infections, and when taken within 72 hours of condomless sex as a form of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), it can cut these sexually transmitted diseases by more than 60%.
To test the effect of this approach, researchers at UCSF and other clinics in San Francisco and Seattle gave doxycycline to more than 500 men and women who had a history of a bacterial STI and recent unprotected sex. Participants were randomly assigned to receive doxycycline or standard care. They took a 200 milligram dose of the antibiotic, a member of the tetracycline family, within 72 hours of having condomless sex and were evaluated by study staff every three months.
Talk to your doctor before you begin taking doxycycline if you have lupus (a condition in which your body’s immune system attacks tissues and organs), intracranial hypertension (pseudotumor cerebri; high pressure in the skull that may cause headaches, blurry or double vision, and other symptoms), stomach surgery, a yeast infection of the mouth or vagina, or kidney or liver disease. The drug can also decrease the effectiveness of hormonal birth control pills, rings, or patches.
