A ‘morning after pill’ could slash soaring rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), new research shows.
Those who took the common antibiotic, doxycycline, within 72 hours of having sex cut their chances of contracting syphilis and chlamydia by up to 80 per cent.
Experts suggested it could be a vital new weapon in the fight against rising STIs if unlikely to impact on antimicrobial resistance.
STI rates have surged in recent years in the UK and America, with changing sexual behaviours and treatment resistance believed to be behind the increase.
Rising divorce rates, the emergence of erectile dysfunction treatment Viagra, dating apps and the growth of retirement villages have seen infections increase in middle aged and older groups.
Concerns have also been raised about children copying what they see in pornography, freely accessed on their mobile phones.
The trend has led to calls for new strategies to address poor sexual health, particularly among older generations who may have missed out on safe sex education.
In the first ‘real world’ study of doxycyclines potential as an STI prevention, researchers from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute in the US gave it to 2,253 people already taking preventative HIV medication, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
Those who took the common antibiotic, doxycycline, within 72 hours of having sex cut their chances of contracting syphilis and chlamydia by up to 80 per cent
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They looked at STI test results before and after taking the pills, also known as doxyPEP, to understand how it may have affected risk of acquiring STIs.
They found that incidence declined by 79 per cent for chlamydia, 80 per cent for syphilis, and 12 per cent for gonorrhoea, according to the findings published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Costing just a few pence, doxycycline is given on the NHS to people to treat bacterial conditions such as chest and dental infections, as well as STIs syphilis and chlamydia once they have an infection.
It is not yet used in the UK as a preventative treatment, despite growing noise surrounding it as a viable option for STI reduction.
UK sexual health chiefs were said to be considering guidance but are concerned about the potential for drug-resistant strains of infections to emerge if the antibiotics is more widely used.
There were 401,800 new STIs diagnosed in England last year, up 4.7 per cent from 383,789 in 2022, according to the UK Health Security Agency.
The sharpest year-on-year rise was among children aged 13 and 14, where the number was up by almost a fifth (19.5 per cent) to 459.
This was followed by pensioners aged 65 and over, with new cases soaring by 18.2 per cent to 2,885.
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The above graph shows the rate per 100,000 people for the total number of syphilis cases recorded in the US since the 1940s. It reveals they are starting to tick up again
The two maps show how the rate of syphilis cases has shifted across the US since 2013
Cases of syphilis are at the highest level since 1948, with 9,513 cases diagnosed last year.
While the majority of cases were in gay men, the UKHSA said there was a larger ‘proportional rise’ in syphilis diagnoses among heterosexual men and women.
There were 1,958 cases diagnosed among heterosexual men and women in 2023, a 22 per cent rise from 2022 when there were 1,608 cases.
Among gay men cases rose by seven per cent between 2022 and 2023.
And a major syphilis outbreak is gripping the US with cases reaching their highest level since the 1950s, official data shows.
An annual report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last year showed 207,300 cases of the STD — which can cause sores on the genitals and mouth — were diagnosed nationwide in 2022, the latest year available.
That marked a 17 percent rise in a year and an 83 percent surge compared to five years ago.
The data also showe a 30 percent rise in cases of congenital syphilis — when the mother passes the disease to her baby — which is a particular cause of concern because it puts them at risk of stillbirth and birth defects.
Norwich has been named as the UK’s hotspot for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) chlamydia, gonorrhoea and genital warts, a new analysis shows
STI rates have surged in recent years in the UK and America, with changing sexual behaviours and treatment resistance believed to be behind the increase
They looked at STI test results before and after taking doxycycline, also known as doxyPEP, to understand how it may have affected risk of acquiring STIs
Lead author of the new doxyPEP study, Dr Michael Traeger, said he was ‘excited’ by the findings which show its potential effectiveness outside of clinicals settings.
‘Interventions that are effective in clinical trials don’t always end up working in real-world settings, 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 still need to be answered about doxyPEP, including its effects on antimicrobial resistance.
‘In the meantime, our study suggests that broader implementation of doxyPEP could have tremendous benefits for reducing STI transmission and improving sexual health.’
Despite hope for preventing syphilis and chlamydia, experts in say gonorrhoea, which can cause pain, discharge and infertility, is almost completely resistant to doxycycline.
There were 85,223 cases of gonorrhoea diagnosed last year, the highest since records began in 1918.
Chlamydia accounted for almost half of all new STIs detected in the UK, with 194,970 diagnoses in 2023.
There were also 27,167 first episodes of genital herpes and 26,133 new genital warts.
Despite this, new diagnoses of STIs remain below pre-pandemic levels, with 468,139 recorded in 2019.
