The study, authored by Health Department staff and other agencies, details an investigation launched into four work-related HIV transmission cases among adult video performers last year. As a result, the industry slowed to a crawl for more than a month last year after a voluntary production moratorium was observed.
Practices of the industry — with actors engaging in unprotected sex acts with multiple partners over short periods of time — increase the potential for STD transmission, the report said.
“Important and remediable gaps for workplace prevention of HIV and other STDs were identified,” Dr. Jonathan Fielding, the county's Health Department director, said. “Screening alone is not an adequate means of preventing workplace disease transmission.”
To prevent the spread of disease, actors should use condoms, dental dams and gloves, officials said.
The report focused on 40-year-old adult performer Darren James who had tested HIV-negative prior to transmitting the disease to three co-workers in early 2004.
Last year, Fielding told XBiz that he thought it was “incredibly sad that it will be business as usual” as actors continue to push their abilities – including double-anal penetration and facial cumshots – without using protective measures.
He said that testing provides a false sense of security, and that the AIDS virus can be detected within 14 days after infection. He also said it is possible to contract HIV and test negative within that period and infect others before later testing reveals a person's HIV-positive status.
The adult industry’s standard in the San Fernando Valley, where nearly 95 percent of domestic porn is shot, is to rely on an expensive but advanced form of testing that detects HIV quickly after infection.
On nearly all sets, with the exception of the gay adult film industry where all actors are presumed to have HIV, no one has sex without a valid HIV test.
Adult performer James was known for getting tested regularly, but he had recently shot scenes in Brazil, where fake HIV tests can be had for $10.
When James returned to California, he had sex with 12 women and apparently infected three of them before testing positive for the virus that causes AIDS. The three other actors who tested positive for HIV were Jessica Dee, Lara Roxx and Ms. Arroyo.
“This case underscores the serious occupational risks for individuals in this industry, the need for fully informing workers of these risks and for employing all available safeguards to reduce transmissions of these diseases,” said Dr. Peter R. Kerndt, director of the Health Department’s Sexually Transmitted Disease Program unit.
After the adult industry’s voluntary moratorium, two Los Angeles-based production companies — Evasive Angles and TT Boy Productions — were cited and fined for noncompliance of adhering to Cal/OSHA bloodborne pathogens standards.
Cal/OSHA spokeswoman Renée Bacchini told XBiz that adult performers need to know there are laws written to protect them from injury and illness on the job and where to go for help if their employer doesn't follow those laws. She said that information for workers and employers in the adult film industry can be found here.
The study will appear in Friday's issue of Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report.
