The models were working with a 26-year-old actor who apparently had tested negative using a standard HIV antibody test. However, standard HIV testing allows for a three-month period when HIV antibodies may remain undetectable, and when the actor went for monthly testing just a few days after the production shoot in question, he was found to be HIV-positive.
One of the three actors who became infected, Jay, said, “On all the shoots, we do everything: kiss, rim, fuck. I’m passive, but he didn’t come inside me — that never happens in porn, it’s all face and mouth. It must have been from his pre-cum inside me.”
The article pointed out the issues raised by using HIV testing that may produce a false negative result for up to 12 weeks after initial infection, which is the type of test most commonly used for performers in the U.K.
“I always say, in a perfect world we would be testing and using condoms. But we just don’t live in a perfect world,” Adult Industry Medical Healthcare (AIM) founder Dr. Sharon Mitchell told XBIZ.
“So, when you’ve got this type of situation, where you have people using a substandard test with a 6-month window period and the amount of partners that sex workers do in movies. Plus, you’ve got partners not only from the U.K., but from all over different parts of Europe coming and going — it’s no surprise that this is bound to happen sooner or later,” she said.
An HIV doctor told Boyz.co.uk, “Tests with shorter window periods would be the best way for anyone who works in bareback porn to reduce the risks.” However, the unnamed doctor stated also that unprotected sexual activity was “never risk-free, regardless of testing.”
After the incident the unnamed director of the production reportedly is now ensuring that all performers who work for his company will be tested monthly with a 48-hour HIV test provided by a London clinic. Presumably, that test would be a PCR-DNA test, which is the standard for the industry performers working in straight productions here in the U.S.
Mitchell said that while, here in the U.S., AIM testing with a PCR-DNA test was available through a partnership with Labcorp patient service centers with 1,700 locations nationwide, that AIM is currently trying to establish clinics in the U.K. and other parts of Europe. She said also that AIM is working to develop an early detection mail-in test.
According to the report, the Health Department in the U.K. continues to recommend the standard HIV test for performers citing that the test is more reliable and that there were concerns about alleged false negatives with the 48-hour tests.
The production company director stated that he was unaware the 48-hour tests were available, saying, “If we had known about it, we’d have chased it up and made sure we used it.”
Jay said also, “I wish that my company was using the quick test before my shoot but they didn’t know about it.”
“We are making every effort to get to the U.K. by February of next year, so that they can have the PCR-DNA test to use,” Mitchell said.
“However, people really need to understand that if they’re going to be working in the adult entertainment industry, that HIV is an occupational hazard. This is something that you really must realize,” she said. “If you’re barebacking and you’re in the straight or the gay industry — regardless if the odds are a million-to-one, you could be that one in a million, and then when you’re in my chair or another doctor’s chair and they’re telling you that you’re HIV-positive, what difference do the odds make?”
Apparently the unnamed production company plans on marketing the film and is planning to release the title sometime before Christmas.
At the time of this posting, sources in the U.K. were unavailable for comment.
