I spoke with an agent who gave me all the latest here’s whats happening:
A male performer tested positive for Syphilis, he immediately made a list of everyone he had worked with and called his agent and notified the agent. LATATA (The association of talent agencys) immediately (even though Derek is on vacation in Mexico) got together and notified the exposed persons (except for two which I will explain) and even stopped two shoots that were in progress. As of that point nobody who was exposed is working and the guy is being retested to rule out a false positive. Results will be known tomorrow.
Kudos to the guy, he absolutely handled this professionally Mister Marcus could take lessons here! Also kudos to LATATA for acting quickly to contain the situation and being straight forward about what was and is being done.
There are two girls who were possibly exposed who are known only to one particular company and that company has so far chosen not to participate and co-operate with LATATA on this…..more will come if this doesnt get resolved.
I am told that if the test comes back positive there will be a statement by the male performer, good for him, he has handled this situation perfectly and he will have my support and I expect that of the industry.
The FSC has not and I am told will not be involved in this (which is why it is being handled so well)
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Update On The Syphilis Outbreak http://t.co/EHO3OlHvJO
Well, since it’s now known that performers and be sued and imprisoned for concealing their STD status, performers and producers now have an incentive to do the right thing.
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Both the lab that performed the test, and the physician who ordered the test are required by law to report this, by name, to the county health department. It is the legal responsibility of the county to contact this person, and to do their own follow up and partner notifications. It does not matter what LATATA or FSC/APHSS does, the county is still required to do this. And this goes for any county, whether it be in California, Florida, where ever.
Also, labs and physicians are required to report syphillis cases within 24 hours of the first test coming back positive.
Just a little more ammo for AHF and Michael Weinstein for the Measure B case. But then again, if not for the industry making this public there is no way the AHF would have ever got wind of it. Point gun directly at foot, pull the trigger.
And since LATATA has already made public that they are notifying people the county just might ask for their assistance, as they are legally obligated to do. Good job LATATA.
I think what’s most interesting about this is that the conversation now includes STDs besides HIV. Think back to when this debate got started. Many of the commentators on sites like Luke Is Back argued that anything short of HIV was the cost of doing business – if you were worried about the clap, you shouldn’t be in this business. Now, its part of the dialogue.
agreed BT and I can find no fault in the way this is currently being handled, LATATA has been up front and honest with me and worked with me t get the right information out and to do so in a timely manner and in a way that doesn’t promote panic. Transparency really is the best way to deal with these.
“Anything short of HIV was the cost of doing business.”
Is there any reason to believe this isn’t the case now in porn? If the statistics are accurate, there’s a high rate of gonorrhea and chlamydia within the porn industry (25% of performers). Why is this not considered an outbreak? Why is there never an industry shut down or quarantine of infected performers? Why is syphilis now treated with the level of seriousness as HIV but Hep C is ignored like herpes?
Kv, the Hep C situation is a ticking timebomb for the industry. For over a decade now Hep C positive performers have been allowed to work, with full knowledge of the producers and agents. They simply cant come clean now and admit that they have been doing this for years, especially the agents, who could be held legally liable for violating section 1700.33 of the civil code.
It is the same reason the gay industry does not test for HIV. They know its rampant, just like Hep C in the straight industry, but if they tested, and it could be proven that the performers are infected, then they couldnt claim ignorance, like they do now. This is going to change very soon, much sooner than the agents are prepared for.
Congratulations, your performer contracted syphilis and what a fine job you did of handling it. Hmmm, kind of like saying congratulation’s construction foreman…you told your worker to stick his hand in the wood chipper, and he did, but dammit man; you did a marvellous job of handling it afterwards. Here’s your trophy, now let’s go have a beer. He’ll be alright…he’s got another hand. It won’t be long before one of these performers who contracts an STD and or HIV figures out that any lawyer worth his salt will absolutely rip the agent, the studio, and multiples of others for allowing them to be put in that unsafe situation in the first place. Truthfully, it may be overdue. All these brilliantly thought-out presentations as to why we don’t have to wear condoms is actually just a huge billboard that says, “Hey…look at us…we really are that dumb.” Just saying. I could be wrong. Probably not. 🙂