O Unified Health System (SUS) published a decision this Wednesday (11) in the Official Gazette of the Union, which authorizes the use of antibiotics to prevent syphilis and chlamydia after exposure to risk.
A doxycycline may prevent both. The document allows the medicine to be used as post-exposure prevention (PEP) — that is, after a situation assessed as a risk of contagion, such as unprotected sexual intercourse.
the Unified Health System (SUS) will have a period of up to 180 days to structure the availability of the new purpose of the medicine.
Use as prophylaxis will follow the Clinical Protocol and Therapeutic Guidelines. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected.
A syphilis is a disease caused by bacteria Treponema pale. It can be transmitted through sexual contact with an infected person — which is why it is a Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI).
This transmission can be through unprotected sexual intercourse (vaginal, anal or oral sex) itself or by sharing objects contaminated with the infected person’s body fluid.
Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted infection (STI), caused by the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis. Generally with no symptoms, the disease is transmitted via unprotected sexual intercourse or from mother to child during birth.
If not treated with antibiotics, it can cause infertility, pelvic pain and serious pregnancy complications.
