LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles County Public Health Department reports at least five possible syphilis cases among porn performers in the past week, according to a Los Angeles Times report this evening.
Peter Kerndt, director of the county’s Sexually Transmitted Disease programs, said his agency plans to follow up with the affected individuals to ensure that they have been properly treated and to determine who else may have been infected.
Public health workers are also attempting to find out the original source of the recent cluster, Kerndt said.
XBIZ yesterday reported that one male performer in the Los Angeles porn community tested positive for syphilis in July and worked three times with a doctored STI test during the past three weeks. That performer has not yet been identified, nor have the four others.
“Whenever there is a cluster like that it may be the tip of the iceberg,” Kerndt said. “It is a concern. It is a serious health risk to workers in this industry.”
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