Actor's HIV Infection Strikes Calif. Porn Industry

[ringmastery]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=638&ncid=762&e=1&u=/nm/20040415/en_nm/leisure_porn_dc

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California's multi-billion-dollar adult porn industry ground to a virtual halt on Thursday after a popular actor tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS (news - web sites).

Industry advocates immediately called for a 60-day moratorium on filming so that others could be tested.

Actor Darren James tested positive for HIV (news - web sites) on Wednesday in screening conducted routinely on the industry's 1,200 regular actors by the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare (AIM) Foundation, the foundation's Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell (news) said.

They must show negative tests to keep working in the industry, Mitchell said, adding that only about 17 percent of performers use condoms.

James, the first porn actor to test positive for the virus since 1999, had a "stellar record" of tests -- negative every three weeks for the past seven years, she said.

[Fenris]

1. *sigh* 17 percent

No one ever learns. They should have learned from John Holmes.

[Catch22Dem]

4. Not to hijack the thread, but...

Have you seen "Wonderland" with Val Kilmer?

[Fenris]

6. Yes, and I thought it captured the depravity of the situation perfectly

Kilmer was dead on, as Holmes was a dumb as a board.

[Catch22Dem]

7. I thought it was really good too

Kilmer isn't all over the place like some actors, but when he does surface, he usually lays down a memorable performance.

[jean]

10. You would enjoy his performance in Spartan

[dolo amber]

2. Well, how convenient

More fuel for the *anti-pr0n* zealots' fire...:eyes: :tinfoilhat:

[Vickers]

3. Well, that's one more unemployed

Damn you, Bill Clinton!

[hang a left]

5. Well I am glad they test, for the actors sakes.

But I remember reading somewhere quite a ways back that it can take HIV 6-12 months to show up in a test after the person has been exposed. I don't know if that is true or not.

[chefgirl]

8. I was told a while back...

I dont know how valid this info still is, but I had a blood transfusion in 1981, and a few years later, when they started to realize it had been in the blood supply, I was told that incubation could be as long as 10 years!
I was tested religiously for about 5 years, and then decided I was going to drive myself crazy worrying about it, and since I didnt engage in any other high risk behavior, I gave up being tested. Figured if I had gotten it from the transfusion, there was nothing I could do about it, and if I was going to get sick, I would know soon enough.
Got myself tested last year again......still negative...thank God...looks like I'm in the clear.
Very scary and odd feeling, to have to think about it as a possible reality. It's a disease I wouldn't wish on anyone.


-chef-

[EDT]

9. I wonder how they keep herpes, G. warts, etc... under control-

As anyone who sees even a little porn knows, condoms aren't usually a part of it, and I think of all the other diseases these people could spread before they knew it. Plus, condoms don't always stop the other diseases either.

[theboss]

11. The actors have their own logic

They say the reason they fell safe is that they only sleep with each other. I find that remarkably short-sighted since it would only take one "outsider" to bring them all down.

[genius]

12. Was that Darren James or James Darren?

James Darren is a Republican and that's pretty pornographic.