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In San Francisco, a prevention campaign based on doxy-PEP, a dose of the antibiotic doxycycline to be taken after unprotected sex, has reduced the number of STIs by half. A hope to take into account.
She was THE news not to be missed at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (BELIEVE) which was held in Denver earlier this month. According to health officials in the city of San Francisco, a prevention campaign based on an antibiotic targeting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) would have made it possible to reduce by half since October 2022.incidence cases of early syphilis and chlamydia among gay and bisexual men and transgender women“.
An antibiotic seen as a “morning after pill”
The city’s preventative strategy, called Doxy-PEP, involves taking a dose of doxycycline, a commonly used broad-spectrum antibiotic, after unprotected sex to reduce the risk of STIs. The targeted at-risk populations – gay, bisexual men and transgender women with a history of STIs or multiple partners – thus received doses of doxycycline. In the event of unprotected intercourse, they had to take two 100-milligram tablets within 24 to 72 hours (oral, anal or vaginal intercourse, experienced without any condom, is counted in unprotected intercourse).
“It’s sort of like a morning after pill, but for STIs.”explain the New York City health services, which closely observed the results of this experiment.
In one year, new cases of chlamydia and early syphilis have halved.
But side effects currently unknown
Promising, the treatment against STIs is not yet completely deciphered. Doxycycline is an antibiotic used for many diseases like cholera, periodontitis, Lyme disease, etc. But this new use has not been known for a long time.
“We don’t know if there are any possible long-term effects.. We don’t yet know if taking doxy-PEP will affect the “good” bacteria in the gut, or if other bacteria that cause STIs or other infections will become resistant. [à cet antibiotique]therefore more complicated to treat” underline the New York public health services.
The risks of antibiotic resistance are, in fact, at the heart of the discussion. In fact, for the moment, doxy-PEP is not yet planned in France or according to a study by European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)infections with resistant bacteria were already associated with more than 5,500 deaths in France in 2015.
Nevertheless, this result could open the way to an interesting prevention tool. “Wearing a condom is the most effective way to protect yourself from STIs. reacted Dr Nicolas Dupin, dermatologist-venerologist responsible for the Sexual Health Center at the Hôtel-Dieu, in the lines of 20 Minutes. “Mbut doxy-PEP constitutes one of the chemical approaches to the prevention of STIs (interesting when) part of the population at risk does not systematically use condoms.