California's multibillion-dollar adult entertainment industry has been left reeling after another positive HIV test for a adult film actor.
The revelation Tuesday led to two of the industry's biggest companies shutting down production and a scramble to find partners who may have been exposed by the actor, whose identity and gender have not been released.
The actor was a patient of the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, a San Fernando Valley clinic that caters to pornographic actors.
Clinic spokeswoman Jennifer Miller told the Los Angeles Times that efforts are under way to notify individuals who may have had sexual contact with the actor. Miller did not return calls or e-mail from The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Wicked Pictures and Vivid Entertainment told the Times that they stopped production as a precaution when the positive test was revealed.
Los Angeles County public health officials and state occupational health officials have said the widespread lack of condom use on adult film sets puts performers at risk for contracting HIV and other diseases. Adult film producers say viewers find them to be a turnoff.
Last year, a woman tested positive for HIV immediately after making an adult film, and in 2004, an HIV outbreak affecting several actors spread panic in the industry and briefly shut down productions at several California studios.
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Adult film actors are required by law to test negative for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases within 30 days of going to work on a film.
