The little blue pill that gives men more oomph in the bedroom has an unexpected benefit - it can slow the spread of malaria.

Viagra doesn't just have a stiffening effect on men's anatomy, it also makes the one-celled parasite that causes malaria more rigid.

A team of European researchers have found that this effect deforms the red blood cells that transport the parasite, encouraging the spleen to clear them from the system.

With fewer infected red blood cells circulating the body, it becomes harder for one of the most common malaria parasites, Plasmodium falciparum, to be transmitted to an uninfected mosquito when it feeds on an infected person or animal.

Lead researcher Catherine Lavasec, from the Pasteur Institute in France, said there was a desperate need for novel interventions to target the transmission of the malaria parasite from a human host to the mosquito.

For more details, go to: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/viagra-slows-the-spread-of-malaria-study-finds-20150515-gh2jzz.html?eid=email:nnn-13omn655-ret_newsl-membereng:nnn-04/11/2013-news_pm-dom-news-nnn-smh-u&campaign_code=13INO009&et_bid=23450982&promote_channel=edmail&mbnr=NDk5MDMw