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Small HIV Breakout Reported in Porn Industry
Photo by Koga/LAist (more photos here)
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Photo by Koga/LAist (more photos here)
An adult industry actress has tested positive HIV, according to XBIZ via the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare in Sherman Oaks. "The actress was involved in a small amount of films in a short period of time," said AIM administrator Brooke Hunter. "She still is in counseling."Her working partners have tested negative so far, but are under two 14-day quarantines getting tested again. "All required reporting has been complied with, as have the AIM and industry protocols," AIM said in a statement. "The investigation is ongoing. This is not a major event."
Although the breakout is smaller than a 2004 incident when five people tested positive prompting the industry to close down for a month, experts at LA County's Public Health Department take it seriously. Add to that, this case was never reported to them and they are now launching an investigation, according to the LA Times.
AIM is a non profit that has become an industry standard for testing performers. However, "civilians" may also get tested, too. Unlike other clinics, you pay a price, but get results within days.
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It takes 9 to 11 days for HIV to show up on tests, but AIM's protocols state performers to get tests every 30 days. “Let’s say you were infected on Monday, tested on Wednesday, and perform on Friday. You would show up as negative, but you’re not negative,” LA County's Jonathan Fielding told the Times.
Critics like performer Anita Cannibal and the County's STD Program Director Peter Kerndt told LAist in 2007 that Nevada Brothels can be safer than Los Angeles porn sets. Currently, 60 to 80 cases of Chlamydia and gonorrhea are reported a month from the industry.
Cannibal back then likened watching porn to watching people receive diseases on the job. The exchange of bodily fluids at a workplace in California breaks Cal/OSHA laws, but some experts within the healthcare and porn industries feel if harshly enforced, porn in Southern California will go underground and become unregulated by AIM, making it more of a breeding ground for disease.
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