PostHeaderIcon HIV infections sweep California porn industry



As the Los Angeles County Health authorities announced of a sex worker having contracted HIV in the last five years, they say 16 more porn stars had been infected by the dreaded virus.

Public Health Officials said the 16 cases of HIV/AIDS were not investigated and unpublicized because of privacy rules enforced before 2006 which prohibited the disclosure of names to government agencies. It was unclear whether all of them got their illness at work.

“No state laws specifically require condom use and the vast majority of heterosexual porn movies are shot "bareback," an industry term for unprotected sex.

State labor codes, however, do require use of personal protective equipment and protection against blood or bodily fluids in the workplace. Since 2004, five adult entertainment companies have been cited for a variety of violations. Each case has been settled, state officials said.

Since 2004, 2,378 people who identified themselves as adult film industry performers have tested positive for chlamydia in Los Angeles County. An additional 1,357 tested positive for gonorrhea and 15 for syphilis, according to data released Thursday by the county's health department.”
Los Angeles Times (06/12/09, Kimi Yoshino and Rong-Gong Lin II

Since the San Fernando Valley is a leading pornography capital which has an annual income of $12 billion dollars, employs more than 1,200 sex performers under at least 200 productions. The HIV outbreak is looked upon with worry because it has the capacity to spread quickly in the community. (Photo Credit: www.rogallery.com) =0=

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