Clinical Medicine Insights: Therapeutics

Doxycycline has remained one of the most commonly used and inexpensive of the broad-spectrum antibiotic drugs currently in use. It has a variety of applications to common respiratory and genitourinary tract infections, but also amongst atypical infections, such as malaria, rickettsial infections, leptospirosis, brucellosis and some of the bioterrorist agents, including anthrax. It is known that the tetracycline class of antibiotics does have a range of side-effects, such as photosensitivity and gastrointestinal side effects, and noteworthy contraindications, especially amongst pregnant women and young children.