LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--After another adult film performer became infected with HIV while working in the porn industry in October, Nevada health officials announced that they are considering applying the same strict regulations required of sex workers in brothels in Nevada to the adult film industry. Since 1988, when the State Health Department first mandated condom use for all prostitutes in all brothels, there have been no reported HIV infections tied to Nevada brothels. Nevada is the only jurisdiction in the United States where prostitution is legally allowed.
“In the twenty-seven years that Nevada has required condom use in its brothels, there has not been a single case of HIV transmission found in, or tied to Nevada brothels,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF). “By comparison, since 2004, public health officials—including CDC officials—have documented on-set transmission of at least four HIV infections in performers while they were actually working on adult film sets. Since that same time, over two-dozen adult performers were found to be infected with HIV while they were working in the industry. Nevada’s move to apply and enforce the same health and safety regulations in the porn industry as its brothels seems like a no-nonsense move that will protect adult film workers as well as the public they may ultimately interact with.”
According to the L.A. Daily News, “Nevada’s health regulations on licensed brothels require ‘each patron to wear and use a latex prophylactic while engaging in sexual intercourse, oral-genital contact or any touching of the sexual organs or other intimate parts of a person.’”
In mid-October, the Free Speech Coalition (FSC), the adult industry trade group, instituted a moratorium on adult industry filming due to reports of an industry-related HIV infection—due to what was most likely this latest HIV case reported last week. The filming ban was lifted by the FSC the following week.
California health officials confirmed the on-set transmission after sending blood samples to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which genetically sequenced (genotyping and phenotyping) the virus found in the performers involved, and matched it to an adult film actor the infected performer worked with.
The adult film industry concedes that it did have three (3) confirmed on–set transmissions in 2004 after a male performer who had worked in adult films in South America returned to the U.S. and resumed filming adult films in Los Angeles—subsequently infecting three female partners on set.
About AIDS Healthcare Foundation
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 380,000 individuals in 36 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare
