A ‘morning after pill’ could reduce rising rates of sexually transmitted infections (STDs), according to new research.
Those who took the common antibiotic doxycycline within 72 hours of sex reduced their chances of contracting syphilis and chlamydia by as much as 80 percent.
Experts have called for wider availability of the drug in Britain and the US.
In Britain, health chiefs are currently refusing to offer this, while in the US it is only available to at-risk groups such as men who have sex with men and trans women.
The researchers suggested that the pill could be a vital new weapon in the fight against rising STDs, as it is unlikely to impact antimicrobial resistance.
The number of STDs has risen dramatically in recent years, with changing sexual behavior and resistance to treatment likely behind this increase.
Rising divorce rates, the rise of Viagra, dating apps and the growth of retirement villages have caused STD rates among baby boomers to skyrocket in recent years.
The trend has led to a call for new strategies to tackle poor sexual health, especially among older generations who may have missed out on safe sex education.
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In the first ‘real’ study into the drug’s potential for STDs, researchers from the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute in the US gave it to 2,253 people who were already taking preventive HIV medication, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
They looked at STD test results before and after taking the pills, known as doxyPEP, to understand how this might have affected the risk of getting STDs.
They found that the incidence for chlamydia fell by 79 percent, for syphilis by 80 percent and for gonorrhea by 12 percent, according to the findings published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Doxycycline costs just a few cents and is given by the NHS to people to treat bacterial conditions such as chest and dental infections, as well as STDs, syphilis and chlamydia once they have an infection.
It is not yet used as a preventative treatment in the UK, despite increasing noise around it as a viable option for reducing STDs.
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Lead author, Dr. Michael Traeger, said he was “excited” by the findings showing its potential effectiveness outside the clinical setting.
“Interventions that are effective in clinical trials don’t always work in practice, where people tend to face more barriers to consistent medication use,” he said.
Dr. Julia Marcus, senior author of the study, said: ‘We know there are important questions that remain to be answered about doxyPEP, including its effects on antimicrobial resistance.
‘In the meantime, our study suggests that wider implementation of doxyPEP could have enormous benefits for reducing STD transmission and improving sexual health.’