from http://www.xbiz.com/news/153188
Rocco Siffredi: ‘89 to 100’ Syphilis-Positive Porn Performers in Europe
LOS ANGELES — Rocco Siffredi told XBIZ Friday that there are “89 to 100” adult performers currently infected with syphilis in three different Eastern European cities where porn is regularly shot — Budapest, Hungary, Prague, Czech Republic and St. Petersburg, Russia.
“We have a lot of positives for syphilis. We don’t really know where this came from, but I’m pretty sure it came from Russia before it came to Budapest in July,” said the 27-year veteran performer/director, whose namesake production company is based in Budapest and distributed by Evil Angel in the U.S.
“I heard of some people with syphilis in May in St. Petersburg. And during May I heard from Italian friends who were there that told me they had one or two cases of syphilis, so they had to stop working. But I guess the syphilis didn’t stay there. Somehow it spread out over to Budapest and Prague.”
Siffredi said he estimates about half, or more than 40, of the infected performers live in Budapest.
“Most of the [big-name] girls, they all have syphilis, nearly all of them,” he said.
The adult production community in Budapest this week extended its voluntary moratorium on shooting films through Sept. 3 due to the outbreak.
“Everybody is waiting to see who is going to make a decision about what,” Siffredi said. “Now they have moved the deadline to Sept. 3. Everybody should make a new test.”
Siffredi said it was his understanding that most of the infected performers there were receiving injections. But according to the information that’s been disseminated there, Hungarian performers must wait at least two months before returning to work because they may still be able to transmit the disease, he said.
“Here you can catch it even if you get the treatment. For two months you are always positive,” Siffredi said, noting he is aware that in Los Angeles, someone who receives an injection is said to no longer be contagious after 10 days. But he doesn’t understand why the time windows are so far apart.
“In the U.S. it’s 10 days, here they say it’s 60 days,” he said. “I’m trying to figure out what is the real thing. In the end of the story, nobody can work.”
Siffredi said his estimate of “89 to 100” infected actually is from “around two or three weeks ago.”
“Then I heard the news about syphilis [in L.A.] and the stories with Mr. Marcus,” Siffredi explained. “It came much faster than what I thought. I really thought we could isolate it in Europe.”
Siffredi said from the information he has gathered in Budapest that “it seems nobody has the same way to cure the people.”
“On my side I decided not to work anymore until this is clear,” he continued. “Because syphilis is very, very heavy shit. It’s not like HIV, but if you catch it two times in a row, like if you catch it right now and cure yourself, and then catch it again, then it will become much harder [to be cured of it]. I was very lucky not to catch it.
“My father died in July, so I was last shooting in June before this whole mess started in July. I don’t want to take the chance since lots of people have syphilis, so what’s the point. I want to see how the doctors will take care about this.”
Siffredi said he thinks there should only be one central testing lab in every country where performers go and “all the tests should be visible.”
“That’s another problem here,” he explained. “The lab didn’t want to give a name for the people who were infected because of the rules, the law. So it’s difficult to understand who’s infected. And then we had a fake test here too in Budapest. We heard a few people had fake tests. Some Romanian guy was making a fake test.”
The outbreak in St. Petersburg may be the most severe of the three cities, he suggested. “So many people are infected over there because they never stopped working,” according to Siffredi.
Siffredi said that he has learned that the syphilis problem in Eastern Europe is by no means limited to the porn population, noting that he even called his doctor in Italy who told him there has been “a big parade” of people coming in with syphilis that don’t work in porn.
He pointed to girls doing too much private escort work outside of their porn scenes as the likely reason for the outbreak.
“This is my opinion that too many girls are doing double work because there is not too much work in the [porn] business like before. So they do some escorting,” Siffredi said. “When you get that blood test that’s valid in Europe for one month, and then do escorting one week and come back to the business without making a new test that would cause the problem.
“I know for a fact that many, many girls are escorting.”
Siffredi said that he’ll often call an agency and ask if a girl is available and they’ll tell him, “Oh, they are in Switzerland.”
“We don’t shoot in Switzerland,” Siffredi said.
He also said he had received two different phone calls from agents asking for his help in recruiting porn girls to travel to Switzerland for privates.
“I told them we call this prostitution, and I can’t help you,” Siffredi said.
The situation in Budapest is unlike anything he has previously experienced in his career, Siffredi added.
“Twenty-seven years in this business and I’ve never seen such a big mess in porn,” he said.
Siffredi also cited serious concerns about one production company that he claimed shoots orgy scenes with established porn girls and several dozen civilian guys who come to the shoots without being properly tested for STIs.
“They have to sign some kind of authorization they will be filming,” Siffredi claimed. “Those guys come with no test and have to wear a rubber. And after 10 to 15 minutes, everybody pulls off the rubber.
“I don’t understand. After the orgy, you test the girl again and more than enough of them, they have gonorrhea. I was really angry with the agencies that they permit this kind of thing. It seems now there is no more too much care about this business like there used to be. I don’t understand why this thing is happening. We shouldn’t be mixed with normal people [who don’t do porn for a living].”
Man I hope Sensual Jane and Shione Cooper don’t have it.
We porno people shouldn’t be mixing with normal people, he says. Funny, because normal people usually say they shouldn’t mix with porno people.
“He pointed to girls doing too much private escort work outside of their porn scenes as the likely reason for the outbreak.
“This is my opinion that too many girls are doing double work because there is not too much work in the [porn] business like before. So they do some escorting,” Siffredi said. “When you get that blood test that’s valid in Europe for one month, and then do escorting one week and come back to the business without making a new test that would cause the problem.
“I know for a fact that many, many girls are escorting.”
Wow, I guess I’m not alone in my thinking. I mean I’m a nobody washed up never-was big mouth so my opinion didn’t resonate with anyone. But now here is Rocco, one of the biggest pornstars on the planet saying the same thing based on logical information.
So now what is to be said?
Mariah I never doubted what you were saying for a minute. Anyone with any common sense can see thats whats going on.
“So now what is to be said?”
We are sorry Mariah and you were always right.
We might have a major public health crisis on our hands. EVERYONE who has had anonymous NSA sex needs to get tested.
The 2 biggest dangers to porn star health are working with male crossover talent and female talent doing bareback escorting.
…doing escorting period. Condoms are not safe enough…
Rocco’s email is the final nail in the coffin of the porn industry. 100 plus cases ? The industry is about to collapse into a situation where public health doctors will take a strong stand. Chris
Here’s the portion that tells the tale, if only people would learn from it:
Siffredi said he thinks there should only be one central testing lab in every country where performers go and “all the tests should be visible.”
“That’s another problem here,” he explained. “The lab didn’t want to give a name for the people who were infected because of the … law. So it’s difficult to [know] who’s infected. And then we had a fake test here too in Budapest. We heard a few people had fake tests….”
The outbreak in St. Petersburg may be the most severe of the three cities, he suggested. “So many people are infected over there because they never stopped working,” according to Siffredi.
The most telling thing is when he said this shit is very heavy, unlike HIV. He might be on to something more than he realizes.
L.A Porn valley is a major cesspool of shit!
Sorry to hear Rocco’s dad died. I was he would post on LIB…
A comment from Mike South.com (edited for spelling and grammar):
“Doctors are setting up the timeline in Europe over when porn stars can go back work. In the US, people who are not doctors and have no medical traning try to tell pornstars after they get one shot they will be just fine. After 10 days, they can go back work. In Europe, they are treating a disease like a disease. In the US, they are treating a disease like the common cold. -richard373”
I like Richard373 over there. He is a smart person with common sense, just wish I could understand half of what he says (english is not his 1st language I think).
Origen and Karmafan — Unfortunately, Richard373, like Mike, has it wrong — but that’s par for the course on South’s site. The job of the five or six regular commenters on that site is to tell South how right he is.
1) APHSS sought designed its response after consulting doctors and infectious disease specialists, and it’s being administered by healthcare providers, so it is irrelevant who the person is “telling” porn stars what the program entails.
2) We have no data to suggest that the Euro plan — which is addressing a major outbreak across several countries — will be effective. The problem in both the American and European outbreaks is the lack of early notification from a centralized data system (as Rocco himself has noted). Applauding the Europeans at this early stage is ridiculous, and only functions as a poke at South’s favorite whipping boy: the institutions of the LA-based porn industry.
3) The timeline is being assembled in the US as well; in fact, APHSS is also compiling a genealogy of the European outbreak in order to track which American performer(s) may have been exposed to the Euro outbreak and potentially brought it to sets here.
4) The comment abut “disease” is also off. Syphilis is an infection; a Sexually Transmitted Infection. It can and most often does lead to a “disease state” — the problem is it can also be asymptomatic for substantial periods of time. Thus people who are infected (and capable of infecting others) but who are NOT yet in a “disease state” must be identified and treated.
Does living the “porn star lifestyle” of working on a set and party all night long as well as not eating properly) lead to a weakened immune system and therefore folks are easily susceptible to infections and diseases?
I’m guessing most porn talent either works out alot or is constantly dieting (except for Rok Jeremy) to keep in shape. The girls doing anal probably skip alot of meals too I would think?
There’s no such thing as a universal porn star lifestyle any more than there is a universal porn star background. People use generalizations to pathologize things so that they don’t have to do any real thinking about them. However, as a general rule, yes they do have to keep fit. But that means exercise as well as maintaining a diet.
Are there some stupid people who try to take a shortcut? Absolutely, but that’s true anywhere. The bottom line is, if you run yourself down, or start using drugs in your vain attempt to cut corners and stay “thin” you’ll be sick and/or unreliable and/or look like shit, and/or unable to perform, and you will not be able to maintain a career. Many people have tried that over the years — in porn, acting, music, and mainstream modeling — and it always ends up the same way. Foolish people are not unique to porn.
I always laugh at the “party all night long” stuff. People have this image of the industry as featuring fabulously well-paid people who roll around in piles of cocaine or float in pools of champagne. Porn is a job — and it can be quite a bit of work at times. When people leave the set they go home, or to another set, or to a bar, or to a restaurant, or whatever. Some do self-destructive things in their lives. That’s life. It’s no different than guys getting off work at the mill and going down to the pub for some mead in a pewter tankard containing high levels of lead — in fact, it’s probably not as bad.
Party like a rock star- give your wife hep c.
Fuck like a porn star – open up for an invisible camera n cum on her face.
For once I agree with Origen. Even though he’s talking out of his ass with nothing to back it up as usual. I can tell you first hand some of these chicks fuck like animals. I consider myself lucky a condom hasn’t broke.
Rocco came this close to having to change his name to Syphredi.
WTF Jeremy??? That was actually pretty funny. Nice pun!