Shigella outbreaks are spreading through gay and bisexual men in Australia and overseas, including drug-resistant strains. A Melbourne GP explains how it’s passed on through sex, what symptoms to watch for, when to seek urgent care, and how to lower your risk.

Doxy-PEP: What It Is, How It Works, and Whether You Should Be Taking It

By Dr George Forgan-Smith, GP Practising in Sydney and Melbourne

If you’ve been on the apps, in the saunas, or just paying attention to gay health Twitter over the last couple of years, you’ve heard about doxy-PEP. Some guys swear by it. Some clinicians are cautious. The evidence is genuinely mixed depending on which infection you’re talking about.

It’s 2am, you’ve just realised your PrEP packet has been sitting untouched for three days, and your phone is open to Google. Maybe someone is in your bed. Maybe you’re staring at the ceiling running through the last week of hookups. Maybe you stopped a month ago and now you’re wondering if last night was a problem.

Breathe. Read the next two minutes. Then we’ll get into the detail.

The 60-second answer (read this first)

If you’ve been taking PrEP daily and forgot one or two pills, you’re very likely still protected for anal sex. Take a pill now. Keep going daily. The margin is tighter for receptive vaginal or neovaginal sex and for injecting risk, so check the windows below before assuming you’re covered.

One of the things I see most often in my work is confusion around PrEP, PEP, and DoxyPEP. They sound similar, they’re sometimes used together, but they do very different things, and mixing them up can leave you under-protected without realising it.

I’m Dr George Forgan-Smith, a general practitioner with specialist training in HIV and sexual health, based in Melbourne. I want to walk you through each of these so you know exactly what they’re for, when to use them, and how to talk to your doctor about getting started, including how DoxyPEP and PrEP fit together, and why so many people get DoxyPEP vs PrEP confused.

While many people are familiar with PrEP for HIV prevention, not everyone is aware the antibotic doxycycline can be used to prevent STI’s. In particular, doxycycline can be useful in prevention of Syphiils, Chlamyida, and Gonorrhoea infections.

Sex can be a natural consequence of travel, you are having a great time, you meet great people. Sex happens.

I frequently see straight patients who are worried about HIV and other STI’s but are not sure the best way to avoid them. Many are not aware they could access things like PrEP, a drug that prevents HIV infection, because they had not heard of it or thought it was only for gay men.

How to take PrEP when you are travelling across time lines.

How to safely restart PrEP if you have recently stopped.

PrEP。保护您免受艾滋病毒/艾滋病

有多种保护您免受艾滋病毒/艾滋病侵害的方法。最常见的方法是在发生性行为时使用避孕套。该视频向您展示了称为PrEP的另一种保护方法。

PrEP 是 Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (暴露前預防)的縮寫。 這是通過每天服用一粒藥片去保護您免受愛滋病病毒感染的一種方法。

如果您想尝试PrEP，请致电03 9654 6088与George Forgan-Smith博士预约