To whom should we prescribe doxy-PEP? A retrospective review of public health surveillance data for bacterial STI diagnoses among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in Ottawa, Canada.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Increases in bacterial sexually transmitted infections (bac-STIs), such as gonorrhoea, chlamydia and syphilis, have affected gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM). A new strategy to prevent bac-STIs involves giving doxycycline as postexposure prophylaxis (doxy-PEP), and research shows that this intervention can prevent chlamydia and syphilis by 70% and gonorrhoea by 33%-50%. Consequently, the US CDC released guidelines in 2024 recommending doxy-PEP for gbMSM with ≥1 bacterial STI diagnosis in the previous 12 months.

Methods

We reviewed public health STI surveillance data between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2024 for gbMSM in Ottawa, Canada, and analysed the number of infections and episodes of infections per person. We estimated the number

SUBMITTER: O'Byrne P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12314957 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature