When taken up to three days after having sex, the antibiotic doxycycline has been shown to prevent syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia in about two-thirds of users.
Unless mothers are treated during pregnancy, newborns can sicken, die or face lifelong disabilities. The CDC is urging public health providers to connect more people to testing and medication.
The country nearly eradicated this treatable sexually transmitted disease twice, only to see it come roaring back. The failure shows the weakness of a cash-strapped public health system.
