AIM says “Patient Zeta” acquired the HIV virus through private, personal activity

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After completing testing for two generations of partners of the HIV-positive patient, AIM Healthcare said that all performers tested negative for HIV on two occasions using multiple testing methods.
AIM, which refers to the HIV-positive patient as Patient Zeta, said it had established that Patient Zeta acquired the virus through private, personal activity and there was no transmission of the HIV virus from Patient Zeta to any performers.

“This event affirms the efficacy of AIM Healthcare Foundation’s testing protocols, as voluntarily implemented by the adult entertainment industry,” AIM said in a press release.

“It is regrettable but inevitable that people continue to acquire the HIV virus in their personal life. The protocols and other industry practices have resulted in only one incident of HIV transmission on set in more than a decade. That is a remarkable record. AIM Healthcare Foundation is proud of its contribution to the health and well-being of the adult industry and wider community.”

In another development, Vivid Entertainment announced today that the company is set to resume production on Monday, Nov. 8, after being shut down for almost a month because of health safety concerns.

Vivid halted production immediately and voluntarily on Oct. 12 after AIM announced that an unidentified adult film performer had tested positive for HIV.

“We made the decision to halt production as the health and well-being of our performers is of utmost importance to us,” said Steven Hirsch, founder/co-chairman of Vivid.

“We can now confirm that all performers who were on the quarantine list as a result of being exposed to the HIV positive performer have gone through two rounds of testing and the results are negative,” Hirsch said.

“We believe that AIM acted professionally and thoroughly and proved that their system works. We will, of course, continue to require recent test results for all performers in our movies and will continue to take all necessary precautions to assure their health and safety.”

Although Vivid did not start any new movies while production was halted, the studio used the time to complete post-production work on a backlog of previously produced films.

Digital Playground already resumed production last week.

“We retested all of our performers and determined they were all OK,” said Guyleen Rose, director of marketing and public relations for Digital Playground.

Hustler is also back in production.

“We have resumed production at our studios, continuing to make sure every precaution is taken to protect everyone involved with the filming,” LFP President Michael Klein told XBIZ.

“Thanks to the efforts of AIM and how they handled this situation, we have now resumed our shooting schedule. Of course, continuing to use condoms like we have been for the last 11 years,” Wicked Pictures President Steve Orenstein told XBIZ.