Porn Shutdown Likely Following Syphilis Reports
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*Entire Porn Industry Treated For Syphilis as Adult Video Production Shuts Down Today.
A reported outbreak of syphilis among adult video performers has prompted industry leaders to call for a temporary production shutdown.
Adult Production Health & Safety Services, the industry's STD testing arm, has called for a "temporary moratorium" on film shoots after it says at least one performer tested positive for syphilis. This, it stated, followed "unsubstantiated rumors of a syphilis incident among adult performers."
There have been at least five reports of syphilis among industry workers recently, according to the Los Angeles Times.
That has the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) on alert. The group has been working for years to get the porn industry to adopt mandatory condom use.
Today it has scheduled a press conference to discuss what the group calls "an outbreak of syphilis among adult film performers."
APHSS, the industry's health organization, said on Saturday that it wants the shutdown so it can identify and presumably quarantine those who had sex with the one positive patient on its radar.
nih.gov
The industry mandates monthly HIV testing protocol for performers, but only schedules twice-a-year testing, in March and September, for syphilis.
The APHSS said that, in light of the latest news, the September round would happen immediately so that the entire "population" of performers would be checked out.
Diane Duke, executive director of the APHSS' parent organization, the porn lobbying group known as the Free Speech Coalition, said:
By launching the program early, performers can go to APHSS-recommended testing facilities and get tested for syphilis for free, along with their regular performer tests panel.
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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