Porn stars with herpes?

[lioness 4]

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 4]

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 3]

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 2]

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 0]

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 4]

Thanks for the stats ntdc

[chooseyourbattles 4]

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

[ntdc 2]

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 4]

What about more serious ones like HIV?

[ntdc 2]

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.

[smithconfused 0]

I read on Shelly Lubben's page (ex porn star, prostitute, stripper) that 66% of actors in adult films have herpes and she does too. She is very honest and open about her life before being saved by God. Very interesting read....just type her name is search engine.

[smithconfused 0]

She also said that she was in study for pregnant women with herpes and when she tested again, she was negative. She claims that GOD cured her of herpes.

http://www.cbn.com/media/player/index.aspx?s=/vod/MIA2

[ginnyp 7]

I recently was trying to look this info up myself, and read an article about a very well-known porn star who said she had herpes, and had it for 6 years, but only got sores on her labia. Then she got what might have been a herpes rash on her buttocks, and she said she was going to quit porn because she didn't want the herpes to spread all over her body. The article said that porn stars are not required to mention their herpes status. They are routinely tested for the basic STDs, but apparently lots of actors don't tell because they don't have to. So I'm sure loads of porn stars have herpes. And HPV. They just don't perform while having an ob.

[iAngra 0]

Belladonna has herpes and it is a fact which she talks about freely. She recently was in Pirates 2 and still does porns regardless. (she has done many porns after the fact and after having done talks on it)

I watched the film to make me feel better and it did. She has wild condomless sex, receives oral sex and looks great. It might make you feel better!

[bluelagoon 0]

Hi there, I am a porn actress. I won't be giving my stage name. But I have just been diagnosed. I will be carrying on working. I will obviously not be working during an outbreak which is going to be hell because most movies are booked a while in advance and I can't plan when my ob will be I am going to change my diet and give up drinking etc and try this suppressive therapy... I hope it works. I will let you all know how it goes. And just to clear something up, the industry is very safe and clean, I didn't catch it at work I caught it from my private partner, I have never had any problems with safety or health issues with anyone else in the industry.

[MerryWhitney 0]

u wish your wee wee was way to big. lol I have seen some huge dicks in porn and I doubt yours is that big. There isn't such thing as to big in porn.

I heard of some major porn stars who are still currently active in porn, who have herpes and other STDS. This is just from industry people I have spoken to I don't really know if it's true or not, but I can believe it, there are some companys who don't even require a STD test as long as condoms are used. Or only require a HIV test before a shoot.

[lostintranslation23 0]

Sorry to anyone that does have HSV 1 and 2 first of all. I've been fortunate not to ever get it on that account but again sorry to anyone that does have it. Any one of us could get it and it's best to play it safe...With pornstars testing for HSV 1 and 2, the reason they don't test for it is because you can't test for it unless there is an outbreak. A doctor can only test for HSV 1 or 2 if there is an outbreak, where they get a piece of the ob scab for lab work to see if you have Herpes or not. Porn stars don't work when they have an outbreak(well some do) and if they're about to get tested while they're having an outbreak, my guess is they reschedule the test or they hide the outbreak during the testing. With that, i know from many other readings, doctors, and other internet searches that it seems to be 50-60 percent of women and men have herpes in the porn industry(hsv 1 or 2). You'll see a lot of porn star women without make up with ob's on their mouth, you'll see a lot of them with the ones on their mouth and it's obvious how they got them from their vast oral careers. Sucks, but it's the 'perks' of the job. One of many.

[Jelloshot 17]

i looked into it a few months back... it seem ss pretty common in the industry. And I have seen a few films where that looked like Herpes to me.

[moody87 5]

u wish your wee wee was way to big. lol I have seen some huge dicks in porn and I doubt yours is that big. There isn't such thing as to big in porn..

Um, I'm guessing you have never heard of sarcasm before ... LoL . Pretty sure he was joking.

[SillyGirlMel 22]

Hey, just wanted to let you know that I am new to Honeycomb, but I am a femal G/G and solo performer with HSV2- I can tell you first hand that they do not test for HSV1 or HSV2 in the adult industry and I found out/ realized that only after I got it.  When I told my adult agent, “Matrix Models” you can google it, he said “oh no, they don’t test for it because everyone has herpes, no big deal”. But it has been a big deal to me, which is a huge part of the reason I quit.  I haven’t done a girl on girl scene since I’ve known I had HSV2, but I have made a mistake recently since I’ve had it.  Anyway, I would post my CUtting Edge testing panel but I keep getting an error about only 102kb only or something. 

[35hope 72]

still calling bs on this, this information need to stop its make people with ghsv think its ok to sleep with adult stars, i'm still going to say you putting these people at risk

[Random Doc 0]

The answer to this question is probably somewhere between most of them and all of them.

As a point of clarity, you can do a blood test to see if your body has made antibodies to HSV 1 and/or HSV 2. The majority of people have been exposed to HSV 1 which normally causes cold sores around the mouth but is more often clinically silent. The percentage of people with exposure to HSV 2 is between about 20% and 40% with only some of these people having any outbreaks at all. That means that about every third poster on this forum has had an exposure to HSV 2 and probably doesn't know it. About 15% of Americans have genital herpes outbreaks.

To the pornstar who said she didn't get it in the industry, she actually does not know where she got it. It could come from your first partner, last partner, or some partner in between. You can get genital HSV 1 from oral sex and not have an outbreak until years later and still have no idea who gave it to you. It is usually transmitted when an outbreak is not present.

HSV is more or less a normal consequence of sex. Most people who have been exposed don't know they have been and are subject to 0 outbreaks or outbreaks every couple of months or when they get stressed. While I do know porn performers who are told not to film when they have an outbreak, antibody testing is relatively expensive when the result will not change someone's clinical outcome unless they choose to take Valtrex for prophylaxis, so it is not routine, nor is it routine if you go to your doctor for an STD check-up.

These performers have unprotected skin-on-skin genital contact on a regular basis. It would be basically be impossible for a porn performer to not have a latent infection after 10-20 filmed scenes. That would be about 8 skin-to-skin contacts with herpes patients even if they were just having sex with random people in the general population, Add heavy partner porn performers to the equation, especially given the fact that the men are exposed to over 100 women in just a few years, and it is basically not possible that they don't have the virus.