An antibiotic derived from tetracycline that is effective against many infections

Usage examples of doxycycline.

But doxycycline is equally effective, if the strain of anthrax bacteria involved is not resistant to it.

Although recommendations may be modified over the coming months, currently, when no information is available about whether the implicated strain of anthrax bacteria is especially susceptible to any particular antibiotic, ciprofloxacin or doxycycline is recommended for adults and children, although the course for children varies slightly.

However, it is not considered as effective as Cipro or doxycycline for treatment of the disease.

G procaine, and doxycycline are approved for preventive treatment following inhalational exposure to anthrax spores.

For children, the CDC says Cipro and doxycycline can be used for the first two to three weeks of treatment to prevent inhalational anthrax, and for the first one to seven days of treatment for cutaneous anthrax.

The American Academy of Pediatrics generally recommends that doxycycline not be used in children under nine years old because the drug may retard skeletal growth in infants and cause discolored teeth in infants and children.

If doxycycline is used, it is continued for fourteen days to reduce the chance of relapse.

If a large-scale attack resulted in mass casualties, the first choices would be doxycycline and ciprofloxacin, taken orally, for both adults and children.

A combination of the antibiotics doxycycline and rifampin is usually prescribed for six weeks to prevent recurring illness.

In fact, as the number of people initially taking ciprofloxacin during the recent postal-related outbreak neared thirty thousand, the CDC switched its preferred recommendation to doxycycline.

Although recommendations may be modified over the coming months, currently, when no information is available about whether the implicated strain of anthrax bacteria is especially susceptible to any particular antibiotic, ciprofloxacin or doxycycline is recommended for adults and children, although the course for children varies slightly.

If a large-scale attack resulted in mass casualties, the first choices would be doxycycline and ciprofloxacin, taken orally, for both adults and children.

For children, the CDC says Cipro and doxycycline can be used for the first two to three weeks of treatment to prevent inhalational anthrax, and for the first one to seven days of treatment for cutaneous anthrax.