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Charlie Sheen was anything but a public health promoter that he is now thought to be. After Sheen confessed on a national television that he is infected with AIDS, it prompted the highest number of HIV-related searches on Google and over 1 million of these searches involved information regarding public health, reports Sci-tech Today

John Ayers, professor at San Diego University, and his colleagues conducted a new study that analyzed the impact of the announcement made by the former star from "Two and a Half Men".

"While no one should be forced to reveal HIV status, Sheen's disclosure may benefit public health by helping many people learn more about HIV infection and prevention," the researchers wrote in a report published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

After examining the Google trends data coupled with news trends from Bloomberg LP terminal system from 2004 to three weeks after Sheen made the announcement, it was revealed that there were at least 3 million more searches on HIV and more than 1 million sought information about important public health messages, according to Ohio.com

The researchers also noted that when NBA star, Magic Johnson, disclosed his HIV infection in 1991, he sparked an increased awareness about the condition. They add that the public health authorities can take advantage of the "Charlie Sheen effect" to highlight the HIV awareness. They also say that the disclosure by Sheen could have a much greater impact because of the way people are now connected to the information.

According to the government projection, as many as 1 million people across the country are infected with HIV out of which about 150,000 people don't even know about it, highlighting the importance of awareness, said Ayers.

The editorial team of the journal said that the public health authorities face a huge challenge when a huge celebrity health news comes on to the media. They need to make sure that useful information is available and accessible to consumers at these times, as reported by Yahoo News