6 ms·

US CDC Encouraged People to Take Post-Sex Pill to Combat Rampant Rise in STI's

31 points by DocFeind 4y ago

bioemerl 4y ago
I am really worried they are compromising the effectiveness of antibiotics here. I had thought this isn't a pill you should just be using at random in your day to day life. Mentioned in the article: > However, antimicrobial resistance experts have hit back at the proposals. Widespread use of doxycycline as a preventive measure could contribute to mutations that make bacteria resistant to the drug, they warned.
- gumby 4y ago
  That ship has sailed with Doxycycline so I think in this case it's probably OK. In general however I agree with your concern.
  - Doxin 4y ago
    There's always more bugs that can grow a resistance. Just because the situation is bad doesn't mean we ought to aim for making it worse.
- follow_money123 4y ago
  that drug is already so badly prescribed that most bacterias already have evolved around it. This smell as a last ditch effort when the industry paid someone to pass this recommendation so that they can cash on the last days as an expensive antibiotic by being abused as over the counter remedy. ...before it fades out of existence thanks to the previous cash out tactics they employed.
  - gumby 4y ago
    > This smell as a last ditch effort when the industry paid someone I don't think corruption is a useful first assumption. Most people are not corrupt, in particular in the OECD countries.
    - drekk 4y ago
      Making corruption legal by calling it lobbying doesn't shield the OECD from critique.
noodlesUK 4y ago
It’s briefly covered in the article, but encouraging healthy members of the public to just pop antibiotics for prophylaxis seems like a recipe for disaster. There are obvious problems with antibiotic resistance, and multiple resistant versions of gonorrhoea and syphilis (and others including non-STD infections) are of serious concern. On a less apocalyptic note, antibiotics have bowel side effects I’m sure most people here are familiar with. These also increase the long term risk of various diseases like Crohn’s disease. These side effects are totally tolerable compared to an active infection, but there’s no reason to subject healthy people to them for questionable benefit.
- nickphx 4y ago
  Maybe the strategy is the hope that if you're unable to control your bowel movements, you're less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior? /s :D
- lockhouse 4y ago
  Doxycycline can also reduce the effectiveness of certain forms of birth control.
- notjulianjaynes 4y ago
  Does taking an antibiotic in response to an active infection reduce the likelihood of contributing to antibiotic resistance compared to a (presumptively lower dose) taken prophylactically? The article says that prophylactic doxycycline lead to a 50-90% reduction in STIs, which seems like a reasonably good trade off, especially if a full course of antibiotics for an infection also contributes to antibiotic resistance.
  - metiscus 4y ago
    My concern is that while doxycycline may be considered by some as a "commodity" the general class of tetracyclines is not. If you reference the linked antibiotic sensitivity chart, you'll notice that tigecycline is very broadly useful and in some cases one of two drugs that work [1]. Increasing the number of people who are taking doxycycline will expose additional pathogens to tetracyclines and cross resistance is definitely a thing. We are already seeing tigecycline resistant pathogens from agricultural use of doxycycline [2]. I'm sure that the people making these decisions are better informed about such things than I am but I do believe that we are vastly overusing anti-microbial agents in ways that future generations will come to regret. 1.https://therapeuticseducation.org/sites/therapeuticseducation.org/files/Antibiotic_Sensitivity_FINAL_Nov_2019.pdf https://therapeuticseducation.org/sites/therapeuticseducatio... 2.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8557919/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8557919/
renewiltord 4y ago
The real risk, of course, is that this has some strange motivation like "we want to reduce the number of infected people interacting with our healthcare workers" or something like what they did for masks and COVID.
baremetal 4y ago
Unpopular opinion: don't have sex with random people and you wont get STI's.
- drekk 4y ago
  Unless your long-term monogamous partner cheats on you. My friend's mother caught syphilis that way. I'm sure shaming people helps lower STI rates though, right?
  - eldritch_4ier 4y ago
    Yes it does. Notice how STDs were far far less prevalent in the past than they are today, and far less prevalent in countries with a healthier attitude on relationships and sex. To your example specifically: don’t cheat either? Are you implying that “people cheat on each other, so there should be no moral standards”? https://wisevoter.com/country-rankings/std-rates-by-country/#countries-with-lowest-std-rates https://wisevoter.com/country-rankings/std-rates-by-country/...
    - kar5pt 4y ago
      Most of the countries ranked low on that list practice arranged marriages with no premarital sex. Is this what you're advocating for? Because I'd bet most Americans and Europeans don't want to live that lifestyle. For some STIs the main consequence is the stigma in the first place. Creating more stigma to reduce
      - kar5pt 4y ago
        Ugh, I hit reply too early and the client I'm using doesn't support editing comments. I'm busy at work and OP is probably not going to change their mind, so I'm leaving this.
  - pfannkuchen 4y ago
    I’m a little confused at the notion that shame doesn’t functionally work. I thought it was regarded as like, mean, not ineffective. But I see people say this sort of thing a lot. Are there studies or something on shame not working?
1letterunixname 4y ago
1. Use condoms 2. Don't put bits into bits that appear shades of festering traffic signals 3. Avoid anyone with herpes
- kar5pt 4y ago
  1. Condoms are only partially effective 2. Many STIs are asymptomatic 3. See #2
eldritch_4ier 4y ago
The absolute last thing they would recommend though is to stop the rampant hook up culture in the first place. For some reason people are really touchy about this suggestion.

31 points by DocFeind 4y ago

I am really worried they are compromising the effectiveness of antibiotics here. I had thought this isn't a pill you should just be using at random in your day to day life. Mentioned in the article: > However, antimicrobial resistance experts have hit back at the proposals. Widespread use of doxycycline as a preventive measure could contribute to mutations that make bacteria resistant to the drug, they warned.

gumby 4y ago
That ship has sailed with Doxycycline so I think in this case it's probably OK. In general however I agree with your concern.
- Doxin 4y ago
  There's always more bugs that can grow a resistance. Just because the situation is bad doesn't mean we ought to aim for making it worse.
follow_money123 4y ago
that drug is already so badly prescribed that most bacterias already have evolved around it. This smell as a last ditch effort when the industry paid someone to pass this recommendation so that they can cash on the last days as an expensive antibiotic by being abused as over the counter remedy. ...before it fades out of existence thanks to the previous cash out tactics they employed.
- gumby 4y ago
  > This smell as a last ditch effort when the industry paid someone I don't think corruption is a useful first assumption. Most people are not corrupt, in particular in the OECD countries.
  - drekk 4y ago
    Making corruption legal by calling it lobbying doesn't shield the OECD from critique.

noodlesUK 4y ago

It’s briefly covered in the article, but encouraging healthy members of the public to just pop antibiotics for prophylaxis seems like a recipe for disaster. There are obvious problems with antibiotic resistance, and multiple resistant versions of gonorrhoea and syphilis (and others including non-STD infections) are of serious concern. On a less apocalyptic note, antibiotics have bowel side effects I’m sure most people here are familiar with. These also increase the long term risk of various diseases like Crohn’s disease. These side effects are totally tolerable compared to an active infection, but there’s no reason to subject healthy people to them for questionable benefit.

nickphx 4y ago
Maybe the strategy is the hope that if you're unable to control your bowel movements, you're less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior? /s :D
lockhouse 4y ago
Doxycycline can also reduce the effectiveness of certain forms of birth control.
notjulianjaynes 4y ago
Does taking an antibiotic in response to an active infection reduce the likelihood of contributing to antibiotic resistance compared to a (presumptively lower dose) taken prophylactically? The article says that prophylactic doxycycline lead to a 50-90% reduction in STIs, which seems like a reasonably good trade off, especially if a full course of antibiotics for an infection also contributes to antibiotic resistance.
- metiscus 4y ago
  My concern is that while doxycycline may be considered by some as a "commodity" the general class of tetracyclines is not. If you reference the linked antibiotic sensitivity chart, you'll notice that tigecycline is very broadly useful and in some cases one of two drugs that work [1]. Increasing the number of people who are taking doxycycline will expose additional pathogens to tetracyclines and cross resistance is definitely a thing. We are already seeing tigecycline resistant pathogens from agricultural use of doxycycline [2]. I'm sure that the people making these decisions are better informed about such things than I am but I do believe that we are vastly overusing anti-microbial agents in ways that future generations will come to regret. 1.https://therapeuticseducation.org/sites/therapeuticseducation.org/files/Antibiotic_Sensitivity_FINAL_Nov_2019.pdf https://therapeuticseducation.org/sites/therapeuticseducatio... 2.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8557919/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8557919/

renewiltord 4y ago

The real risk, of course, is that this has some strange motivation like "we want to reduce the number of infected people interacting with our healthcare workers" or something like what they did for masks and COVID.

baremetal 4y ago

Unpopular opinion: don't have sex with random people and you wont get STI's.

drekk 4y ago
Unless your long-term monogamous partner cheats on you. My friend's mother caught syphilis that way. I'm sure shaming people helps lower STI rates though, right?
- eldritch_4ier 4y ago
  Yes it does. Notice how STDs were far far less prevalent in the past than they are today, and far less prevalent in countries with a healthier attitude on relationships and sex. To your example specifically: don’t cheat either? Are you implying that “people cheat on each other, so there should be no moral standards”? https://wisevoter.com/country-rankings/std-rates-by-country/#countries-with-lowest-std-rates https://wisevoter.com/country-rankings/std-rates-by-country/...
  - kar5pt 4y ago
    Most of the countries ranked low on that list practice arranged marriages with no premarital sex. Is this what you're advocating for? Because I'd bet most Americans and Europeans don't want to live that lifestyle. For some STIs the main consequence is the stigma in the first place. Creating more stigma to reduce
    - kar5pt 4y ago
      Ugh, I hit reply too early and the client I'm using doesn't support editing comments. I'm busy at work and OP is probably not going to change their mind, so I'm leaving this.
- pfannkuchen 4y ago
  I’m a little confused at the notion that shame doesn’t functionally work. I thought it was regarded as like, mean, not ineffective. But I see people say this sort of thing a lot. Are there studies or something on shame not working?

1letterunixname 4y ago

1. Use condoms 2. Don't put bits into bits that appear shades of festering traffic signals 3. Avoid anyone with herpes

kar5pt 4y ago
1. Condoms are only partially effective 2. Many STIs are asymptomatic 3. See #2

eldritch_4ier 4y ago

The absolute last thing they would recommend though is to stop the rampant hook up culture in the first place. For some reason people are really touchy about this suggestion.