Charlie Sheen’s HIV disclosure boosted public health

Actor Charlie Sheen’s bombshell announcement on a US chat show that he was HIV positive may have had a massive public health benefit, research suggests.

After his confession on NBC’s Today Show on November 17 last year, HIV-related Google searches in the US hit record levels.

The number of news reports mentioning the Aids virus also soared.

Experts said the surge in awareness was likely to be a boost for public health.

John Ayers, from San Diego State University Graduate School of Public Health in the US, said:

“While no-one should be forced to reveal their HIV status and all diagnoses are tragic, Sheen’s disclosure may benefit public health by potentially helping many learn more about HIV and HIV prevention.”

Sheen, who starred in the popular sitcom Two And A Half Men as well as the movies Wall Street and Platoon, was the highest-paid actor on television in 2010.

However, a year later his life and career were in a tailspin as reports of alcohol and drug abuse and marital problems hit the headlines. His contract for Two And A Half Men was terminated in March 2011. His announcement he had been diagnosed HIV positive four years earlier caused a sensation.

To assess its impact, Prof Ayers led a team of researchers who scoured Google search histories and monitored news coverage.

They found that the day of Sheen’s disclosure coincided with a 265% increase in news reports mentioning HIV archived on the Bloomberg Terminal.

In addition 1.25m more searches than expected were made.