Porn stars with herpes?

[lioness]

I was thinking the other day that if an adult film actor were to somehow get an incurable STD like herpes, their career would be completely ruined. But would it not? obviously, if you were in porn and you got herpes, you would have to only be in films with other actors with herpes (actors who are STD-free probably wouldn't take the risk). Are there certain circles of porn actors that have herpes?

FYI, I'm not asking this because I'm interested in being in porn, lol. That idea does not appeal to me. I'm just wondering

[OopsNowWhat]

I believe I read somewhere they don't even test for herpes....

Don't know for sure....

I tried to be a pornstar but they told me my wee wee was way to big.....

[Cure Coming Soon]

Originally Posted by OopsNowWhat

I tried to be a pornstar but they told me my wee wee was way to big.....

You too, I guess I'm not the only one.

[ntdc]

Many (if not most) actors in pornographic films have herpes. It is not in the routine battery of tests that the actors must take every month so there are no definite statistics on it. The rates of bacterial STDs are so unbelievably high amongst adult film actors that you would have to be insane to think herpes is not a huge problem as well.

From a medical journal article on STD risk in porn:

"Among 825 performers screened in 2000–2001, 7.7% of females and 5.5% of males had chlamydia, and 2% overall had gonorrhea . These rates are much higher than in patients visiting family planning clinics, where chlamydia and gonorrhea rates were 4.0% and 0.7%, respectively . Some might argue that this program of STD testing keeps rates of HIV and other STDs lower than in other sex-related industries, and in fact, a recent study of prostitutes in San Francisco found 6.8% and 12.4% positivity rates for chlamydia and gonorrhea, higher than rates in the adult film industry.

Porn actors are tested and treated for STDs by an industry run clinic called AIM, in 2007 the head of AIM was quoted in a village voice piece as saying 50% of porn actors have herpes.

My guess is they do not work during active OBs and take valtrex to control symptoms.

[talesofagirl]

I thought that I read somewhere that oral herpes is quite prevalent in the regular film industry, due to all of the kissing. Or something like that...

[lioness]

Thanks for the stats ntdc

[chooseyourbattles]

I've heard from someone in the business that 75% of pornstars have genital herpes.

[ntdc]

Well given that the bacterial STD rate is about double what it is in the general population, then 50% seems a reasonable if not conservative estimate (as general population has between 17-25% prevalence). I would believe 75% is a realsitic number would not be shocked if it was higher. HPV is probably ubiquitous though AIM now provide vaccinations.

[lioness]

What about more serious ones like HIV?

[ntdc]

Originally Posted by lioness

What about more serious ones like HIV?

Incidents of HIV transmission amongst heterosexual porn actors is surprisingly rare. This can be attributed mainly to the relatively low prevalence of HIV amongst heterosexuals and the difficulty of transmission of HIV in heterosexual sex acts. Also in porno the male performer rarely ejaculates inside the woman reducing chances of transmission further.


That said there have been several high profile outbreaks of HIV in the porn community. The most high profile cases are those involving men as the number of men in porn is relatively small and they usually last longer in the industry than women so an HIV+ man has tyhe potential to cause more new infections.

The first was John Holmes announcement in 1988 that he had been infected with HIV. Though it was never determined how he contracted the disease he had been known to be involved in gay porn and IV drug use. Several performers claim to have contracted HIV from him though it cannot be conclusively proven since he was not aware when he became infected.

HIV testing began to increase throughout the 90s though the incubation period caused problems since a positive ELISA test today only indicates you were not infected 6-12 weeks ago. Also there was no standard testing clinic and notification system.

The need for better testing was underscored when veteran actor Marc Wallace was revealed to be HIV+ in the late 1990s by the PCR-DNA test. He had previously tested negative by ELISA testing but the viral load indicated he may have been infected for over a year. Wallace admitted to having abused IV drugs and he acted in several gay films.

John Stagliano (aka "Buttman" ) was also diagnosed HIV+ in the late 1990s though it has never come out how he contracted it. Stagliano engaged in many acts of heterosexual anal sex in his videos (high risk act) and is rumorerd to have contracted it from reciving anal sex from a transexual.

Since standard 30 day testing by DNA-PCR has become industry standard the safety for actors and actresses has increased significantly. Another high profile outbreak happened in 2004. Actor Darren James contracted HIV from unprotected anal sex on a film shoot in brazil. He tested on return a few days later but it was too quick to pick up the infection (window period for DNA-PCR is 10 days or so). He immediately returned to work. HIV+ person is most infectious to others in the first few weeks of infection ( known as ARS). Unfortuntely three girls contracted it from him before he tested positive (one from unprotected vaginal , two from unprotected anal sex). Several girls he also performed with did not become infected as a result.

The industry entered a complete shut-down of all productions until all actors were retested. The infection was contained in this manner.

I believe less than one hundred porn actors/actresses have contracted HIV since its discovery and less than 20 have died from AIDS.