Adult film actress ‘distraught’ after testing positive for HIV

The agent for an adult film actress who has tested positive for HIV said his client is “distraught” and is working with medical professionals to notify her past sexual partners.

Mark Schechter, owner of Adult Talent Managers LA and agent for the 28-year-old performer whose screen name is Cameron Bay, told The Times the actress went in Monday for her regular screening for sexually transmitted diseases and the results came back inconclusive.

She went in for a second test Tuesday with a new blood sample. Preliminary results came back Wednesday as potentially positive for HIV.

Bay’s last test prior to Monday -- which was negative -- took place July 27, he said, and she had done shoots since.

Schechter said he has been in “constant communication” with Bay since the preliminary results came in.

“Cameron is obviously distraught over this conclusive information provided to her today, and yet she has been 100% cooperative with the medical personnel, strictly in the interest of ensuring the fastest possible partner notification for the benefit of all concerned,” he said in a statement. “Cameron has been a model citizen acting responsibly at this most difficult time. Her courage should be lauded.”

Bay added in a statement of her own: “As difficult as this news is for me today, I am hopeful that no other performers have been affected. I plan on doing everything possible to assist the medical professionals and my fellow performers. Following that, my long-term plan is to take care of myself and my health.”

Free Speech Coalition, a Canoga Park-based trade organization for the adult film industry, said Thursday separate tests by Cutting Edge Testing and Talent Testing Services confirmed Bay is positive for HIV.

The coalition announced a nationwide moratorium on adult shooting Wednesday after preliminary test results were positive.

According to a statement released Thursday, the moratorium will remain in effect until Bay’s sexual partners have been tested and cleared. Identification and notification of those people are nearly complete, the organization said.

Officials with the county’s department of public health confirmed that the agency had been notified of the test result, as required by law.

A previous HIV scare that shut down adult film production in 2011 turned out to be a false alarm. After a weeklong filming moratorium, the performer involved was retested, with a negative result.

The most recent STD-related industry moratorium was issued in August 2012 as a result of a syphilis outbreak.

The coalition said there was “no evidence whatsoever” that Bay had contracted the infection on set, but critics of the industry pointed to the latest HIV scare as further evidence that condoms should be required during filming.

The adult industry has maintained that mandating condoms on set, as the city and county of Los Angeles have now done, harms business and is unnecessary because performers undergo regular testing.

Last week, a U.S. district judge struck down the contention that the law is unconstitutional. Vivid Entertainment quickly said it will appeal.

A spokesman with the county public health department said it has issued 10 conditional adult film permits since the condom measure was implemented, and no violations had been found to date.

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Twitter: @sewella

abby.sewell@latimes.com