'You'd think they'd want to be a full partner in trying to prevent the spread of this disease,' said Dr. So far, the San Fernando Valley-based clinic has declined to tell county or state officials the name of the performer or her employer. 'AIM Healthcare has never been cooperative with us and our investigations,' said Dean Fryer, a spokesman for the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health. The report - and what state and county health officials perceive as stonewalling by the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, which tests porn performers for sexually transmitted diseases - is bringing renewed scrutiny to the estimated $ 12-billion-a-year industry's long history of resisting regulation and condom use.
The newly released data bring the number of HIV cases in porn performers in the last five years to 22, including the case disclosed this week. Despite porn industry assurances that an adult film actress' recent positive HIV test is the first since a 2004 outbreak shut down production for a month, Los Angeles County health officials said Thursday that at least 16 additional unpublicized cases of HIV have been confirmed in adult film performers.
