Generic Vibramycin (Doxycycline)

Vibramycin is a semi-synthetic broad-spectrum antibiotic. It was discovered in the 1960s and has been widely used for various diseases. The pharmacological name of Vibramycin is doxycycline. It belongs to tetracyclines, one of the most well-known and well-studied classes of antimicrobial drugs.

The widespread use of Vibramycin for many decades has led to growing drug resistance. As Vibramycin became less effective and new antibiotics with higher safety profiles became available, its former popularity has declined. However, today this classic drug is in demand again, primarily for the treatment of sexually transmitted infections, pelvic inflammatory diseases, and lower respiratory tract infections.

Vibramycin is very effective for acne, rosacea, and periodontitis, as shown in some clinical studies. It is highly active against borreliosis, transmitted to humans by the bite of infected ticks. This allows Vibramycin to be used for the prevention and treatment of Lyme disease. As migration and tourism have increased in the last decades, Vibramycin might become the drug of choice for the treatment and prevention of communicable diseases and zoonoses, infectious diseases that have jumped from an animal to humans, including especially dangerous ones.

Pricing

Vibramycin is a moderately priced drug available in brand-name and generic versions. According to US aggregators, prices for 12 tablets from Canadian pharmacy start at $15 for brand-name products and $10 for generic versions.

Mechanism of action

Penetrating the cell, Vibramycin acts on the pathogens inside by suppressing their protein synthesis and disrupting essential processes. The following gram-positive bacteria are highly sensitive to the drug: Streptococcus, Clostridium, Listeria, Actinomyces israeli; gram-negative bacteria include Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae, Klebsiella, Escherichia coli, Shigella, Enterobacter, Salmonella, Bordetella pertussis, Bacteroides, and Treponema. The most sensitive are Haemophilus influenzae (95%) and intracellular pathogens, which cause many common infections.

Vibramycin is active against most pathogens of dangerous infectious diseases, such as plague, tularemia, anthrax, legionellosis, brucellosis, cholera, typhus, glanders, chlamydia, malaria, amoebic dysentery, and others. Vibramycin inhibits the intestinal flora to a lesser extent than other tetracyclines, and has better absorption and a longer duration of action. In terms of antibacterial activity, Vibramycin is superior to natural tetracyclines.

Indications of Vibramycin

Vibramycin is prescribed for infectious and inflammatory diseases:

• respiratory tract infections (pharyngitis, acute and chronic bronchitis, tracheitis, bronchopneumonia, lobar pneumonia, lung abscess, pleural empyema);
• infections of ENT organs (otitis media, tonsillitis, sinusitis, etc.);
• genitourinary infections (cystitis, pyelonephritis, prostatitis, urethritis, urethrocystitis, urogenital mycoplasmosis, endometritis, endocervicitis, acute orchiepididymitis; gonorrhea);
• biliary tract infections and gastrointestinal tract infections (cholecystitis, cholangitis, gastroenterocolitis, bacillary dysentery);
• skin and soft tissue infections (cellulitis, abscesses, furunculosis, felons, infected burns, wounds, etc.);
• infectious eye diseases, syphilis, yaws, yersiniosis, legionellosis, rickettsiosis, chlamydia of various localization (including prostatitis and proctitis), Q fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, typhus (including tick-borne and relapsing), Lyme disease (I stage), bacillary and amoebic dysentery, tularemia, cholera, actinomycosis, and malaria.
• prevention of postoperative purulent complications; malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum during short-term travel (less than 4 months) in areas where strains resistant to chloroquine and pyrimethamine-sulfadoxine are common;
• as a first-line drug, it is prescribed to patients under 65 years of age with exacerbation of chronic bronchitis without concomitant diseases. Effective in exacerbation of bronchopulmonary infection in patients with cystic fibrosis, chlamydial arthritis, granulocytic ehrlichiosis. In elderly patients, it is used to treat acute prostatitis and urinary infection caused by Escherichia coli.

Dosage and administration

Vibramycin is taken according to the doctor’s prescription. The average daily dose for adults and children over 12 years old (>45 kg): 1st day — 200 mg (100 mg twice a day), then 100 mg/day.

With severe hepatic insufficiency, a decrease in the daily dose of doxycycline is required, since in this case it gradually accumulates in the body and creates a risk of hepatotoxicity.

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Contraindications of Vibramycin

• hypersensitivity to doxycycline, drug components, and other tetracyclines;
• lactase deficiency;
• lactose intolerance;
• glucose-galactose malabsorption;
• porphyria;
• severe liver failure;
• leukopenia;
• children under 12 years of age (because of possible formation of insoluble complexes with calcium ions with deposition in the skeleton and teeth);
• children over 12 years weighing less than 45 kg.

Side effects

Nervous system: increased intracranial pressure (decreased appetite, vomiting, headache, papilledema), toxic effect on the central nervous system (dizziness or unsteadiness).

Metabolic disorders: anorexia.

• Hearing and vision problems: ringing in the ears, blurred vision, scotoma, and diplopia as a result of increased intracranial pressure.
• Digestive system: nausea, constipation or diarrhea, abdominal pain, glossitis, dysphagia, esophagitis, gastritis, gastric and duodenal ulceration, pseudomembranous colitis, enterocolitis.
• Allergic reactions: maculopapular rash, pruritus, skin flushing, angioedema, anaphylactoid reactions, drug lupus erythematosus, rash erythematous, exfoliative dermatitis, urticaria, anaphylaxis, anaphylactic shock, anaphylactoid reactions, Stevens-Johnson syndrome.
• Cardiovascular system: pericarditis, lowering blood pressure, tachycardia, erythema multiforme.
• Hematopoietic organs: hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, neutropenia, leukopenia, eosinophilia, and decreased prothrombin index.
• Hepatobiliary system: impaired liver function, increased levels of hepatic transaminases, autoimmune hepatitis, cholestasis.
• Musculoskeletal system: arthralgia, myalgia.
• Impaired kidney and urinary tract function: increased levels of residual urea nitrogen.
• Others: photosensitivity; persistent discoloration of tooth enamel, inflammation in the anogenital zone. Candidiasis (vaginitis, glossitis, stomatitis, proctitis), dysbacteriosis, a syndrome similar to serum sickness, and toxic epidermal necrolysis.

Vibramycin and male fertility

In recent years, new information has appeared about the effect of tetracyclines on many processes in the body. Many scientific papers point to the positive effect of doxycycline on male fertility. This effect is not always associated with the antibacterial properties of the drug. Infectious and inflammatory diseases account for approximately 15% of all causes of male infertility, and the leading cause among them is chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome, the most common urological problem in men under the age of 50. Vibramycin is a drug with a wide spectrum of antimicrobial activity and one of the antibiotics recommended by the urological communities for the treatment of bacterial prostatitis. A sufficiently large amount of data has been accumulated on its effect on sperm quality parameters, which indicates that the effects of Vibramycin are also associated with anti-inflammatory action and other mechanisms. Many studies confirm the positive effect of doxycycline on fertility, which determines the appropriateness of its use, in particular, in chronic bacterial prostatitis combined with infertility.