Can doxycycline 100mg treat cold sores?

Answer 1

Don't ever take an antibiotic to treat an ailment without consulting your doctor. Antibiotics only treat a few specific bacterium per antibiotic. By taking antibiotics for a type of bacterial infection that is resistant to that antibiotic, you only weaken the immune system making the infection harder to treat down the road.

In addition, one of the side effects of doxycycline (Adoxa, Monodox), is "exacerbation of sinusitis symptoms". Check with your doctor.

In a perfect world, doctors would never treat a bacterial infection without doing a culture to determine which antibiotics a bacterial infection is sensitive to. But this does not happen often enough.

Answer 2

No. Doxycycline is only for treating bacterial infections. Colds and flu are caused by viruses, and antibiotics would have no effect.

There are anti-viral drugs, such as Tamiflu, that help with the flu to shorten the duration and lessen the severity of the symptoms. There is no equivalent for the common cold, you just have to ride it out and treat the symptoms with over the counter products, which you also would do for the flu. Ask the pharmacist at the drug store to suggest products based on the symptoms you have with the cold or flu.

Antibiotics would be a waste of time and money. Use of any prescription drug always carries inherent risk, and there is no reason to risk anything when it will do no good. The only times that antibiotics would be appropriate with viral infections would be to treat a secondary bacterial infection or to prevent infection by bacteria (only done in special cases).

Answer 3

Doxycycline 100mg won't treat cold sores.