Public health data released in Los Angeles on Thursday indicated that sixteen additional adult industry performers may have been infected with HIV since the 2004 outbreak- a number much higher than the previous count of eight.
Reports are currently conflicting, and public health officials are insisting that the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation is not complying with requests for information. The Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, or AIM, insists anti-porn bias and media flame-fanning is behind sudden interest in the infections. From their website:
We are finding that many clients, patients, and companies are tempted to discuss this delicate matter with the world for whatever personal or professional gain. Fact is, that we are still awaiting final confirmation on the patient Zero, who was given a positive result on Saturday 6/6/09…
…as to the rumor that a negative result was given by error to an HIV positive patient who then worked and exposed others, this too, is not possible, as there was no result available either positive or negative until 6/6/09.
The LA Times is reporting the updated number of infections since the 2004 outbreak as 22- three times the number originally reported all along. Further fueling porn-industry panic are reports that for reasons not currently understood, the actress most recently reported as infected was allowed to work the day after receiving her positive result.
In a press release, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation is renewing calls for tighter adult industry regulation and reports that at the time of the 2004 outbreaks, only two out of two hundred adult film production companies required performers to use condoms. California’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is said to be “mounting a probe” regarding the recent HIV scare.
