After porn star Cameron Bay tested positive for HIV, the pornographic film industry announced in Los Angeles, California that there was a moratorium on the filming of adult movies, reports WTSP Channel 10 News.  Adult Production Health and Safety Services, working with the industry, is testing all partners of the actor to determine if they have also been infected.  The Executive Director of the Free Speech Coalition, the industry trade group, stated that they do not believe the actor was infected on set, but the moratorium will only be lifted when they can eliminate the risk of transmission.

This is not the first HIV-scare for the porn industry.  With the high-risk nature of the work, there have been similar incidences that have shut down production in 2011 and 2010.  CBS News on reports the 2011 scare in which an adult film actor tested positive for HIV in an out-of-state clinic.  The industry halted production in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California, the center of the American porn industry.  After a retest, it was determined the original results were a false positive.  Filming resumed.

In 2010, Derrick Burts, previously known only as Patient Zeta to protect his identity, came forward to speak out against the practices of the porn industry, according to the Los Angeles Times.  Burts tested negative for HIV in September 2010 and performed as a crossover actor in both heterosexual and homosexual productions.  In October, he was HIV-positive.

Clinic officials assert that Burts was infected as a result of his personal sex life.  However, Burts says he was infected on set.  Burts told the clinic staff that he had become infected after working with another performer that was a “known positive,” but he could not tell the clinic staff the person’s name or gender for confidentiality reasons.  While Burts used a condom for sex, he removed it for some oral sex scenes, greatly increasing the risk of infection.

Burts has become a vocal proponent of safer practices in the porn industry.  The straight porn industry requires negatives HIV tests before filming, but the gay porn industry does not have similar restrictions.  Even where there are HIV-positive performers, they are allowed to keep working as long as they use a condom.  Teaming up with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Burts is pushing for required condom use and HIV testing for all adult films.

In addition to the threat of HIV/AIDS, the porn industry has also faced a recent scare of a syphilis outbreak, reports the Huffington Post.  Measures advocated by Burts would help address these threats as well.