“This is the first well-documented work-related HIV transmission among male adult film performers,” writes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a report published February 12 in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
“A performer was infected by a non–work-related partner who was not aware of his HIV infection,” summarizes the report. “The performer, having tested negative…within the preceding 14 days, and unaware of his very recent HIV infection, infected another performer and a non–work-related partner. Viruses in all four HIV infections were highly genetically related, indicating a transmission cluster.”
The case refers to an incident reported in December 2014 that resulted in an Occupational Health Alert issued by the California Department of Public Health.
The CDC’s finding “puts truth to [the porn] industry’s testing lies,” claims the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) in a press release. AHF has backed a statewide bill in California to require all adult stars to use condoms on porn sets, but the group acknowledges to LA Weekly that it’s unclear whether the HIV transmission in question took place in Nevada or California. Indeed, LA Weekly reports that no California companies were involved in the case.
The AHF writes: “The new information published today in the MMWR report demonstrates that the Free Speech Coalition (FSC), the adult industry producers’ trade group, lies about its Performer Availability Screening Services (PASS) testing scheme and about HIV transmission in the adult film industry.”
The FSC, however, tells LA Weekly that “the CDC report refers to an incident from several years ago involving a out-of-state, non-compliant production in Nevada, where the industry testing protocols (known as PASS) were not observed. While AHF would like to claim otherwise, there is no comparison between shoots which used expired, non-uniform tests, and the industry’s comprehensive fourteen-day testing protocol.... No HIV transmissions have occurred on PASS-compliant sets in over a decade.”
In its press release, the AHF counters these FSC claims.
Comments
Comments