Private MD News

Porn actors in Los Angeles more likely to have STDs than Nevada prostitutes

Category: HIV

A new report published in the Journal of the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association, reveals that porn actors in Los Angeles have a higher rate of gonorrhea and chlamydia than prostitutes in Nevada, where brothels are legal.

The Los Angeles Times noted that the report, which was written by public health experts at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of California, Los Angeles, includes a study that looked at 168 male and female porn stars in Los Angeles County between mid-May and mid-September in 2010. It found that 28 percent of them had tested positive for gonorrhea or chlamydia.

The report also noted that the rates of sexually transmitted diseases among prostitutes in Nevada are low because they're obligated by law to wear condoms and undergo weekly STD testing, according to the L.A. Times. Since the law went into effect, there have been no new cases of HIV infection among prostitutes in Nevada.

Porn actors in Los Angeles, on the other hand, frequently forgo using condoms, and while they regularly have urine tests for STDs, there is no testing to detect infections in the mouth, throat or rectum, which puts them at an increased risk of infections, along with other side effects associated with STDs.

"The results of this study suggest that many performers in the [adult film industry] are not safe on the job from acquiring and transmitting [sexually transmitted infections] at multiple anatomical sites," wrote the research authors in the study. "Repeated and chronic infection with [sexually transmitted infections] can lead to infertility, chronic pelvic pain and ectopic pregnancies, and can facilitate HIV infection."

Gonorrhea and chlamydia facts
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), notes that in 2010, there were 309,341 reported cases of gonorrhea, but it estimates that nearly 700,000 people contract the disease annually. Some symptoms of gonorrhea in men include a burning sensation while urinating, swollen testicles and green or yellow discharge from the penis. Women also experience burning while urinating along with discharge, but many times they do not display symptoms.

In 2010 there were 1,307,893 cases of chlamydia infections reported to CDC. A majority of the time people who contract chlamydia do not show any signs. Certain side effects in men and women include a burning sensation while urinating along with vaginal or penile discharge.