San Francisco Asks FDA to Place STD Warning on Viagra

Health officials in San Francisco have asked the Food and Drug Administration to change Viagra's warning label to reflect a link to gonorrhea transmission. The request came after a study conducted of 844 men at San Francisco STD clinics found that men who have sex with men (MSM) were four times as likely to use Viagra as heterosexual men. Viagra users are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors, and gonorrhea is more likely to occur among MSM.

Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, head of San Francisco's STD control program, said that the study he led, to be published in the journal AIDS, included the following findings:

• 43 percent of Viagra users mixed it with Ecstasy.

• 28 percent mixed Viagra with methamphetamines.
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• 33 percent of gay and bisexual Viagra users had an STD, compared to 23 percent of nonusers.

• The 108 men who used Viagra had an average of 5.4 sexual partners in the two months prior to the study, compared to 3.5 partners among study participants who did not use the drug.

According to Pfizer, the company that manufactures the drug, the label on the drug is sufficient as it stands. The label notes that "Viagra does not protect you or your partner from getting sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV."

Although San Francisco is not one of the top 20 US cities for gonorrhea incidence, it does rank 12th in syphilis incidence, with 53 cases reported in 2000, according to the CDC.

Back to other CDC news for April 16, 2002

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