Proof that travel stimulates

A dying wish in Italy

In Japan organised tours are available to Hawaii. A blood test from a Japanese doctor is faxed to Hawaii where a prescription is handed over. The shortest trip is four days - most of the men are in their fifties and travel alone.

Italian men are queuing up to buy the drug in San Marino in north central Italy. The tiny republic is one of the few places in Europe where the impotence remedy is available on prescription.

Italians seem to be having little trouble getting help from their doctors - one leading oncologist in Rome has said publicly that he is recommending the drug to some of his male patients who are terminally ill.

They should be enjoying life, he says, until the very last moment.

The health authorities in Israel have decided to reverse a ban on imports, saying they are satisfied with a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) all clear after recent health scares.

Middle East caution

But elsewhere, Viagra has been receiving a negative reception from the authorities.

• In Egypt sales of the drug have been banned until the side effects are fully tested. The move came after three men were hospitalised but there is now a booming blackmarket in the drug with MP's calling for heavy fines to combat the illegal trade.

• Four Saudi men are reported to have been treated in intensive care units of private hospitals after taking the new anti-impotence drug Viagra. One of the patients, aged 50, is said to have suffered a heart attack but was later released.

  Viagra is due to be made available by prescription later in the year, a health ministry official said.

• Palestinian health officials have also advised doctors not to distribute the drug.

German tumescence

But in Germany, there is a stiffening of resolve not to join the rush - at least publicly. A survey published in Die Bild national newspaper revealed that 91% of German men stand proud, insisting they have no need of Viagra with just 8% conceding they would limp into the pharmacist, leaving 1% unsure.