Most Antibiotics Do Not Cause Birth Control Failure
The Claim
Antibiotics will cancel out birth control bills.
News posted on
Emerging story
In October 2018, a wildly shared Facebook post claimed that antibiotics would cancel out birth control. Accordingly, it advised women to avoid using antibiotics while on birth control. The claim resurfaced this month, as many users began recirculating the same allegation, accompanied with personal stories to support it.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation revealed that the circulating claim is misleading. Experts assert that antibiotics do not interfere with birth control, except for Rifampin. According to a study cited on the National Center for Biotechnology Information website, Rifampin is the only antibiotic to date that has been reported to reduce plasma estrogen concentrations. If taken while using birth control pills, Rifampin, a drug used to treat tuberculosis and other bacterial infections, decreases the hormone levels in birth control pills.
Another study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology concluded that hormone levels remain unchanged when the commonly prescribed antibiotics (e.g., Ciprofloxacin, Clarithromycin, Doxycycline, etc.) are taken with birth control pills. Other experts include Rifabutin to the list of antibiotics that might make birth control less effective, but to a lesser extent than Rifampin. Experts’ general conclusion is that: only certain types of antibiotics can affect birth control because they can alter the body’s hormone levels.
Misbar, therefore, reasserts the misleading nature of the circulated claim that antibiotics cancel out birth control pills.
