Zambia bans 'Viagra' energy drink

Authorities in Zambia have banned an energy drink after laboratory results showed that it contained the active ingredient of the anti-impotence drug Viagra.

SX Energy Natural Power drink, produced by Revin Zambia, is exported around the region including to Uganda, where a consumer recently complained of a prolonged erection and profuse sweating.

In a statement late on Wednesday authorities in the Zambian city of Ndola where the manufacturer is based, ordered "a product recall of natural high energy drink SX".

Ndola city spokesperson Tilyenji Mwanza said in the statement that results from Zimbabwe and South Africa correlated with those from tests conducted in Zambia which indicated "a positive presence of Sildenafil Citrate".

In December last year, the medicine regulatory authority said that the drink was adulterated with Sildenafil Citrate - a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction and dispensed under the brand name Viagra.

Revin Zambia officials were not immediately available to comment.

© 2019 AFP