CANOGA PARK, Calif. — California’s Department of Public Health has issued an alert after finding evidence that a gay porn performer has become infected with HIV.
The state Department of Public Health states a male actor tested positive for HIV after engaging in sex with several other male performers during two separate film shoots.
He had tested negative before the shoot.
One performer from a second shoot has since tested newly positive for HIV, the report said. Lab results indicate the first performer who tested positive "probably transmitted" HIV to the second performer.
The Free Speech Coalition has released a statement regarding the news:
Yesterday, the California Department of Public Health released information about an incident this past September concerning a performer with HIV working on a non-compliant adult film set in Nevada. This is, however, not a ‘current threat’ as stated in the press release.
At the time of the incident, the Free Speech Coalition immediately cooperated with the Department of Public Health, and called a moratorium to determine if there was any risk of transmission to performers on PASS compliant adult sets. Non-complaint shoots are one of the chief dangers of pushing the adult industry out of state, and outside the established testing protocol.
The shoots in question did not adhere to the PASS testing protocols and were shot outside of the PASS testing database used by adult performers. Not only did this leave those who participated at risk, it made it much harder to track scene partners once the possible infection was discovered.
While the set did use a degree of HIV testing, it fell below the standard set by PASS protocols, including the use of an ELISA HIV tests, rather than the highly sensitive RNA tests required by the industry. The ELISA tests have large window periods that delay how early an infection can be detected, and have not been accepted within the adult industry for over a decade.
Neither did the shoot utilize the PASS database. However, once alerted by the DPH to the incident, the Free Speech Coalition worked swiftly to shut down production within the larger industry and help track any possible exposures in or out of the PASS database. While performers in the PASS database were not affected, participants on the non-compliant shoot may have been exposed.
The adult film industry has been working with government agencies including Cal/OSHA to bring remaining producers shooting outside of the PASS protocols into compliance. The PASS system utilized by the industry is a proven testing protocol that has been effective in preventing any on-set transmission of HIV for more than ten years.
For more information about industry protocols, moratoriums and testing, click here.
