Porn Star Tests Positive for HIV, Shuts Down Production at 2 Companies

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) A Los Angeles adult film star has tested positive for HIV, putting a halt on film production at two of the industry's biggest adult entertainment companies.

The actor, whose identity and gender have not been released, was a patient of the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, known as AIM, a Sherman Oaks clinic that caters to pornographic actors.

Clinic spokeswoman Jennifer Miller told the Los Angeles Times that a quarantine was in place for performers who had sexual contact with the person.

Wicked Pictures and Vivid Entertainment told the Times that they shut down production as a precaution when the positive test was revealed.

Los Angles County public health officials and state occupational health officials have said the widespread lack of condom use on porn sets puts performers at risk for contracting HIV and other diseases. Adult film producers say viewers find them to be a turnoff.

By law, porn actors are required to test negative for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases within 30 days of going to work on a film.

This requirement has been highly criticized by former porn star, Darren James, who in 2004 was at the center of an HIV outbreak after first testing negative days before performing but later learning he had tested positive, affecting several actors.

Now an advocate for the mandatory use of condoms on porn sets, James believes the actors are "not getting the protection that they need."