Correlations have been made for a long time between the effects of the increasingly popular erectile dysfunction medications and the simultaneously increasing number of cases of sexually transmitted infections. Now we have the figures to prove it. With data taken from a recent report by the Health Protection Agency, it seems likely that this hypothesised correlation is a valid one.

The spread of sexually transmitted infections among those between the ages of 50 and 90 years is growing rapidly and is being described as a small epidemic.  The number of new cases of HIV among those over the age of 50 years had doubled over a period of ten years in 2009.

This is indicative of people not taking the necessary precautions when it comes to the use of condoms and sex. It is thought that the responsibility to get tested is as much down to the patient as it is the GP in that GPs are simply not recognising the symptoms of sexually transmitted infection in the older generations these days and are assuming symptoms are associated with something else. The truth of it is that men and women are having sex well into their nineties today with the help of Viagra and other such medications and curbing the rise of infection rates is something we all have to consider including those in the medical community.