CDC announces new STI prevention tool

FILE – This 1972 microscope image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a Treponema pallidum bacterium that causes the disease syphilis. As the number of syphilis cases in newborns in the U.S. skyrockets, a group of doctors now recommends that all pregnant women be screened three times for the sexually transmitted infection. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists updated its guidelines for doctors on Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Susan Lindsley/CDC via AP)

LANSING, Michigan (WLNS) — In response to the increasing number of bacterial sexually transmitted infections such as gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced Tuesday the approval of a new prevention measure.

The new intervention is called Doxy PEP, a shortened version of doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis. the new instructionsSupported by four studies, men who have sex with men and transgender women can be prescribed the antibiotic doxycycline, to be taken within 72 hours after sex.

The new guidelines were introduced in the hope of reducing the incidence of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis cases in the country.

The intervention is only approved for men who have sex with men and transgender women. One study focused on women who have sex with men. However, it turned out that the reported frequency of antibiotic use did not match the hair samples – these showed significantly lower use of the drug than reported by the participants.

The preventative was introduced and approved after studies showed it reduced chlamydia and syphilis infections by more than 70% and gonorrhea infections by about 50%, the CDC recommendation said.

The most recent, complete bacterial STI data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services are from 2022 and were released in 2023. The 2023 data will be released in July.

This 2023 data shows that 43,036 Michiganders have been diagnosed with chlamydia and 16,373 people in the state have been diagnosed with gonorrhea. This data also shows that 1,822 Michiganders have been diagnosed with latent syphilis, while 972 people have been diagnosed with primary or secondary syphilis.

Provisionally Data for 2023 shows that 43,161 people in the state have been diagnosed with chlamydia and 15,298 people in Michigan have been diagnosed with gonorrhea. In addition, preliminary data shows that 2,177 people in Michigan have been diagnosed with latent syphilis, while 845 people from the state have been diagnosed with primary or secondary syphilis.

It’s unclear how the new prevention measure will affect STI rates in Michigan. State documents show that risk categories for chlamydia and gonorrhea are not well documented.

“There are no resources available to assess risk for chlamydia and gonorrhea cases,” MDHHS spokeswoman Lynn Sutfin said in an email to 6 News. “Local health departments focus on ensuring treatment as opposed to the interviews we do for syphilis and HIV. MDHHS recently applied for a grant to provide additional resources to better assess risk for gonorrhea.”