Porn Actress' HIV case confirmed

Rong-Gong Lin II and Kimi Yoshino (Los Angeles Times, 6/11/09)

Jen "X," left, and Jessica Drake at a fundraiser in Las Vegas, where lunches with pornstars were auctioned to aid the Adult Industry Medical HealthCare Foundation. In California's unregulated porn film industry, an alarming number of performers are infected with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, and nobody seems to care.

An actress who works in Southern California's pornography industry has tested positive for HIV, renewing county and state health officials' concerns that the adult entertainment industry lacks sufficient safety measures to prevent the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

The new case was confirmed to The Los Angeles Times and pornography industry websites [June 10, 2009] by the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, a San Fernando Valley-based clinic that serves adult-film stars in Sherman Oaks and Granada Hills. Public health officials, however, said no official report had been made at the state or county level.

• From the archives: See No Evil
• At least 16 unpublicized HIV cases in porn film performers

Dr. Jonathan Fielding, health officer for Los Angeles County, said Wednesday that his office was launching an investigation.

Officials from the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health also said they will look into the circumstances of the case, which is the first publicly confirmed HIV infection in Southern California's porn industry since 2004, when an HIV outbreak shut down production for four weeks. More>>