How many HIV infections will it take?

News has recently emerged that yet another performer in the adult entertainment (aka porn) industry has tested HIV+. As a result, porn production in Southern California has been put on hold, while the person undergoes re-testing to confirm the diagnosis. A similar shut down took place late last year, when porn actor Derrick Burts tested HIV+.

Pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry. Sex sells, and adult entertainment offers lucrative opportunities for performers. As a society, we really like porn ... there wouldn't be so much money to be had if we didn't! So why isn't this industry more heavily regulated? Why isn't safer sex -- aka condom use -- a fully enforced requirement for all porn production?

As long as the demand is there, people are going to continue to work in the industry. How many HIV infections will it take before we put the same value on health and safety in the porn industry as we do in other workplaces?

HIV tests look for HIV antibodies in the blood. It usually takes about three to six months before the body produces enough HIV antibodies to be detected in testing. That means that a person will be infected for at least three to six months before they know about the infection. In the case of adult performers, that's three to six months of unprotected sex -- three to six months of infecting other people with HIV without knowing it.

 

A few facts about HIV:

• The Face of AIDS is changing. Once labelled ‘the gay disease’, the majority of new HIV infections around the world are through heterosexual contact.


• You can’t contract HIV from hugging, touching, kissing or loving a person who has HIV/AIDS. Only blood, seminal & vaginal fluids and breastmilk have been proven to transmit the virus.


• Anyone can be infected by HIV no matter their age, gender, sexual orientation, race, religion or ethnic origin.


• There is no cure for HIV or AIDS.


• People are most often infected by acts of unprotected sex, sharing needles and pregnancies where the mother is infected with the virus.

Sources:

ACCKWA - The AIDS Committee of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and Area

ACT - The AIDS Committee of Toronto

The Huffington Post -Porn Shutdown over HIV Test