Porn industry healthcare clinic not cooperating, public health officials say
3:24 PM | June 11, 2009
[UPDATE: At least 16 previously unpublicized HIV cases in porn film performers, public health officials say]
Public health officials said today they have had no cooperation from the adult entertainment industry health clinic that recently confirmed a porn actress had tested positive for HIV, hampering their efforts to investigate how she contracted the virus.
The Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, a San Fernando Valley-based clinic, confirmed the positive test result to The Times on Wednesday. Despite requests from the county and state, AIM officials have not released the actress’ name or provided the name of the production company or companies where she had worked.
“I don’t think we have the degree of cooperation that we would like in cases like this,” said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Los Angeles County health officer. “We’d like a little more proactive cooperation.”
Fielding said it is routine for the county to conduct an investigation in cases of disease transmission at the workplace.
AIM officials have told county officials seeking details that they are not required to notify the county until seven days after receiving a confirmatory test, Fielding said. He said AIM said the confirmatory test is not yet complete.
The slow response from AIM – along with publicized comments from clinic representatives downplaying the incident and saying it is not a “major event” – has worried health officials who fear that little has changed in the five years since an HIV outbreak among porn performers shut down production in the multibillion dollar industry for a month.
In the 2004 outbreak, a porn actor spread the virus to three actresses he had worked with and another unrelated performer also tested positive. A series of public hearings prompted legislation to force safer practices, but the bill quietly expired without a vote.
–Kimi Yoshino and Rong-Gong Lin II