Fridae

A study by researchers at the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) has shown that Viagra leads to risky sexual behaviour among gay and bisexual men, which is associated with higher rates of STD transmission. Based on the study, health officials have made an unusual appeal to regulators to warn consumers, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The results were published in the June issue of the journal AIDS.

The Department of Health surveyed 844 men who seeked treatment at city health clinics from December 2000 to February 2001. Forty-two percent of the men aged 17 to 72 self-identified as gay or bisexual.

According to the study, 17% of all the men reported using Viagra during the previous year, with gay men being four times more likely to use the erectile dysfunction drug than their heterosexual peers.

The researchers cited several factors that led them to believe that men who are not experiencing any erectile dysfunction are in fact using Viagra as a sexual stimulant.

Thirty-one percent of the gay and bisexual men - 108 of 352 - said they had used Viagra over the past year. Of those men, 56 percent said they got the drug from friends, and not from a doctor.

The median age of men using the drug was 32, suggesting that users were using the drug for recreational - and not medical - purposes. Doctors are, however, undecided whether Viagra has any effect on healthy men other than a psychological boost.

Jeffrey Klausner, the director of STD Prevention and Control Services with the SFDPH, which commissioned the study told the media, "When I was going to visit public sex venues, like clubs and bars, I was finding Viagra wrappers in the backrooms and on the floors."

Viagra pills normally come in prescription bottles like other drugs, but individual samples come in foil wrappers.

The study also found that among the gay and bisexual men who used Viagra, 43% said they combined it with the party drug ecstasy, 28% used it in conjunction with methamphetamines ("speed") while 15% used it with nitrates ("poppers").

The researchers also noted that the combined use of Viagra and party drugs make men less likely to use condoms, putting them at risk for HIV and STD infections. Party drug and AIDS drugs users may also use Viagra to counteract the side effects of the drugs.

Gay and bisexual Viagra users also were shown to be more likely to have had more sexual partners than men who did not use Viagra.

Based on the study's findings, Klausner has asked the Food and Drug Administration and Pfizer Inc., Viagra's manufacturer, to include a warning on the drug's packaging cautioning about the risk of STDs. In March, he made a similar request to the FDA based on preliminary study data showing that Viagra use was linked to rising gonorrhea infection rates.

A spokesperson for Pfizer said the drug already comes with an adequate STD warning, which reads: "Viagra does not protect you or your partner from getting sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV - the virus that causes AIDS."

Even without the use of party drugs, hundreds of men with heart problems have died after using Viagra, and an overdose can lead to priapism - an erection that lasts for hours and is extremely painful and potentially disabling.