A porn star has tested positive for syphilis, which has lead to the Free Speech Coalition, an industry trade group, to put the shooting of porn on hiatus while performers are tested.
Last Friday, the Los Angeles County Public Health Department announced that they were investigating at least five possible cases of syphilis that were reported last week. Now the trade group wants more than 1,000 performers in the sex industry to be tested. Ten days after performers are treated with preventative antibiotics, they can go back to work, according to Joanne Cachapero, a spokeswoman for the coalition.
This is not the first time the porn industry has had to shut down for something like this. Last year, many major production companies halted filming after a false report indicated that a performer had tested positive for H.I.V. And a year prior, male performer Derrick Burts was diagnosed as HIV-positive, which shut down production as well.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, the only star who's confirmed having syphilis thus far is Aletta Ocean, though she says she contracted it in Budapest.
[via CBS News]
