Two-week course of minocycline therapy for early syphilis compared with benzathine penicillin G: a single-centre retrospective cohort study

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochaete Treponema pallidum. The standard treatment for early syphilis is a single dose of intramuscular benzathine penicillin G (BPG), while doxycycline for 14 days is an alternative.1 2 However, during global antibiotic shortages, doxycycline may be unavailable,3 and no universally accepted alternative treatment exists for patients with syphilis with penicillin allergy. Although minocycline, another tetracycline agent with a similar antimicrobial spectrum, is widely used for syphilis treatment in Japan,4 its efficacy remains uncertain.