From The LA Times latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/06/at-least-16-previously-unpublicized-hiv-cases-in-porn-film-performers-public-health-officials-say.html
At least 16 previously unpublicized HIV cases in porn film performers, public health officials say [UPDATED]
6:08 PM | June 11, 2009
Los Angeles County officials released public health data this afternoon indicating that 16 previously unpublicized cases of HIV had been confirmed in adult film industry performers since 2004 when an outbreak shut down porn production for a month.
The 2004 cases — involving a male porn star, three actresses he had worked with and an unrelated case in a transsexual performer — drew intense scrutiny to safety practices in the industry.
The newly released data brings the number of known HIV cases in adult film performers to 22 since 2004, including a porn actress who tested positive late last week. At least 10 of those cases involved men who had sex with other men, according to health officials.
In all, 16 men and 5 women who worked as adult film industry performers contracted HIV between 2004 and 2008, according to Los Angeles County Department of Public Health data requested by The Times.
Between 1998 and 2003, 14 confirmed HIV cases were reported among adult film performers, according to the health department.
The previously unpublicized cases will probably shock adult industry workers, who repeatedly have described the new case as the first since 2004. It was not immediately clear whether any of the previously unpublicized HIV infections involved workplace transmission of the virus.
Officials from the San Fernando Valley-based Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation released more details this afternoon about the most recent case. The actress tested for HIV on June 4 and the first positive result was returned Saturday, according to a statement from AIM founder Sharon Mitchell on her clinic’s website. The woman had last tested negative for HIV on April 29, Mitchell said.
Three others with connections to the woman have so far tested negative for HIV, according to the statement, including two men described as "industry partners."
A man who worked with the woman on Friday, the day before she received her positive HIV test results, tested negative Tuesday, according to Mitchell. He is scheduled to be tested again June 19.
Another man tested "not detected" for HIV on Monday, the statement said. He had tested HIV negative on May 13, Mitchell said. The man is scheduled to test again on June 22. In addition, the girlfriend of one of the men last tested negative on May 19, according to the statement.
“Rumor is rampant when the words HIV and porn are in the same sentence; the media is like a moth to a flame,” Mitchell said. “We are finding that many clients, patients and companies are tempted to discuss this delicate matter with the world for whatever personal or professional gain. Fact is, that we are still awaiting final confirmation on the patient Zero, who was given a positive result on Saturday 6/6/09.”
She also dismissed rumors in the industry that AIM workers had given the woman a negative result in error allowing her to work and expose others.
“This too, is not possible, as there was no result available either positive or negative until 6/6/09,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell told AVN, an adult industry website, on Wednesday that the clinic had recently changed its policies on disclosure of new cases. "What we do is just handle everything privately unless there’s a widespread problem," she said.
Update at 8 p.m.: Dr. Colin Hamblin, AIM’s medical director, provided a different timeline of events later today. Hamblin said the porn actress first tested HIV positive on June 4 and worked the following day for reasons he said were still being investigated. A second positive result came back Saturday. And the clinic is awaiting results of a third and final confirmatory test, he said.
Hamblin described the woman as having had two recent sexual partners, a fellow porn actor who worked with her on June 5 and her boyfriend, who is not in the porn industry. Those men have had sexual intercourse with an additional six people, who have all been notified and offered testing, he said.
–Kimi Yoshino and Rong-Gong Lin II
I really think it’s time to drop names, even if they happen to be wrong, just in case.
“At least 10 of those cases involved men who had sex with other men, according to health officials.”
oh sure, lest we forget to make the gay male, the root of all evil.
i’ll jump to an assumption, that “at least 22 of the 22 cases, all had tons of sex with everything and most of anything and so fucking what, just wear a goddamned rubber dude.”
She also dismissed rumors in the industry that AIM workers had given the woman a negative result in error allowing her to work and expose others.
That jibes with the story of the director of the shoot claiming to have called AIM and pronouncing the female talent’s test as ‘pending’ and then going ahead with the scene.
Sharon is toast, she was hanged by her own words.
I always has wonder if this people who left the industry all of the sudden do it because they has a STD, even AIDS, time to name names please.
“What we do is just handle everything privately unless there’s a widespread problem,” she(Dr Mitch) said.
Had she and Bill had their way with the Marc Wallice episode, they would’ve buried that too. Their party was ruined there by the namesake of this site. Who were these other people, retired performers? IV drug users who dont work anymore? retired performers who escort? This business is hilarious, leaving healthcare to a bogus doctor, a trade publication that is on the business dole, a free speech group that’s really done nothing but raise money and pat itself on the back…and so on.
Rics, you made an excellent point, should’ve given you credit for it in my last post.
Just random, but that 16 positive aim test in the LA Times is nonsense. You realize that I’m sure most of it not all of them were from people testing positive before they even performed. Which, would of course be reported to the county (as per formers) because they marked themselves down as performers. But obviously, if someone is not yet an active performer, I don’t see why they’d want to or bother to create alarm by making a big deal about those publicly.
I don’t really defend AIM, it’s a losery organization managed by ex-porn stars, which should tell you something, but obviously there have not been 16 active performers which HIV. We’d of all heard about that already.
“But obviously, if someone is not yet an active performer, I don’t see why they’d want to or bother to create alarm by making a big deal about those publicly.”
Many new performers enter the industry because they are ficking someone that is already in the industry.
“but obviously there have not been 16 active performers which HIV. We’d of all heard about that already.”
What about the persons who are active performers and test positive and are allowed to quit the industry quietly? That is possible too. Keeping things quiet seems to be the AIM way.
Is it really possible that 16 performers were positive an not a single one became public. All of these positives were reported as required by law to the county by AIM and the lab that ran the tests.
Who here really thinks that the people in this insutry would be able to keep 16 HIV positve cases quiet? Get real.
Anything is possible, there was a trannie who tested HIV positive around the same time as the ’04 episode, but it was unrelated, I bet had there not been the problem before that there would’ve been nothing made of it. Also depends on the people diagnosed, dont put anything past Dr Mitch and her crew. Look at sudden retirements, suicides, disappearances, anything and everything.
At least 10 of those cases involved men who had sex with other men, according to health officials.
Since 2004, there have been plenty leave gay porn. Caleb Carter committed suicide earlier this year, Rod Roddick mysteriously od’d, another gorgeous English guy suddenly committed suicide last year, etc. In gay porn, when someone who used to due condom only scenes suddenly appears in a bareback video, it is assumed that they are poz.
How does the county know there are 16 cases if AIM didnt report them? What did the county do when they recieved these 16 cases?