An online image library intended to help doctors make dermatological diagnoses is being used as a stand-in porn site, according to a study from Johns Hopkins University. 

Dr Christoph Lehmann launched an investigation after noticing that the amount of searches for images showing genital areas was unusually high. 

The study found that nine of the 43 websites with the top referral rates were fetish or pornography websites, and that 14.3 per cent of enquiries came from those links.

"The anonymous misuse of collaborative archives must be anticipated, addressed and prevented to preserve their integrity and the integrity of the learning communities they support," Lehmann told April's edition of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. 

The medical site Lehmann monitored included more than 7,800 images, almost six per cent of which displayed genital regions.

Lehmann's study found that 37 per cent of requests searching for a particular part of the human body site involved a genital region.