Infectious disease pharmacists working in emergency departments, HIV/AIDS clinics and other areas of care where patients with syphilis often present may have a new weapon to combat a spike in cases: giving doxycycline as post-exposure prophylaxis (doxy-PEP).
New treatment options are sorely needed because “syphilis is surging in the United States,” Susan Tuddenham, MD, MPH, said at IDWeek 2023, in Boston. Since 2017, reported cases have increased