thank you J
I have been told that the FSC sent out an email stating that the Talent that tested positive, has now tested negative. The moratorium is over and shooting can resume. I have not seen the email yet. I will post it here when I do.
I asked Michael if he could confirm this for me (since he has some "insider" status, lol)
Michael Whiteacre says
"The Associated Press reports that Patient Alpha has now tested negative in the latest round of confirmatory testing. However, the question remains whether it is legally and medically sound to DEFINITIVELY declare the patient HIV negative as of yet.
According to what I’ve been reading, most experts (including those at the CDC) recognize that it can take 30 to 90 days before one can make a definitive determination.
That’s why this quote from Weinstein’s latest self-serving press release is so frustrating:
“Why is any ‘investigation’ needed, when two rapid tests that would take 40 minutes, are sufficient to determine if someone is positive?”
This jackass — the president of the largest global AIDS organization, with clinics and testing sites in Florida (where this case reportedly occurred) — is obviously ignorant of the fact that in the state of Florida, NO ONE is deemed POSITIVE until the results of the confirmatory test come back. In fact, clinics are not permitted by the state to tell any one they are positive until the tests come back from the State. What people are told is that they are “reactive” even in AHF’s own clinics and testing sites, not positive.
Not only doesn’t Michael Weinstein understand testing, he doesn’t even know his own protocols. What a douche.
However, the FSC’s update makes it clear that the first and second generation people have been identified and contacted, and that testing has commenced, so it is appropriate to recommence production. "
Diane Duke Says in an AP news story-
"The industry will be abundantly cautious as we try to nail down the reasons for what now appears to have been a false positive result on a previous test,"
The Associated Press reports that Patient Alpha has now tested negative in the latest round of confirmatory testing. However, the question remains whether it is legally and medically sound to DEFINITIVELY declare the patient HIV negative as of yet.
According to what I’ve been reading, most experts (including those at the CDC) recognize that it can take 30 to 90 days before one can make a definitive determination.
That’s why this quote from Weinstein’s latest self-serving press release is so frustrating:
“Why is any ‘investigation’ needed, when two rapid tests that would take 40 minutes, are sufficient to determine if someone is positive?”
This jackass — the president of the largest global AIDS organization, with clinics and testing sites in Florida (where this case reportedly occurred) — is obviously ignorant of the fact that in the state of Florida, NO ONE is deemed POSITIVE until the results of the confirmatory test come back. In fact, clinics are not permitted by the state to tell any one they are positive until the tests come back from the State. What people are told is that they are “reactive” even in AHF’s own clinics and testing sites, not positive.
Not only doesn’t Michael Weinstein understand testing, he doesn’t even know his own protocols. What a douche.
However, the FSC’s update makes it clear that the first and second generation people have been identified and contacted, and that testing has commenced, so it is appropriate to recommence production.
http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-porn-performer-retests-hiv-negative-235143465.html
If two rapid tests are sufficient to determine if someone is positive then why are we testing with PCR?
Since there really is no such thing as a “confirmatory” test (as no gold standard exists and all tests’ disclaimers say further tests are required) I’m all for rapid instead of PCR tests because they’re faster and cheaper. To quote Liam Scheff’s sarcasm (from the “House of Numbers” AIDS documentary), “We all know faster and cheaper means better”.
I know Whinestein is terribly disappointed about the fact that he has no porn AIDS case to cry about. Why the fuck he cried about it in the first place when the “final” conclusion wasn’t in, shows Weinstein is as much of a piece of shit as ********* NL-Jeremy I am going to spank you and than put you on Mod if you don’t behave!
Jeremy:
I’ll simply quote to you this comment from Ernest Greene that he posted to BPPA on that very question:
However, it is true that both the ELISA and Western Blot are used as confirmatory tests, along with two additional PCR-DNA tests, because both the Western Blot precisely because the Western Blot yields actual numbers on viral loads and because the ELISA, though it throws plenty of false negs because of the long window period, never throws a false positive because it detects HIV antibodies in the blood and if you have those, you’re infected, full-stop.
That’s why the CDC still considers ELISA the gold standard, because it can be inconclusive but can never give a false diagnosis.
Basically, the PCR-DNA test has a much shorter window period (15 days), and thus far less likely to induce a “false negative” than ELISA. That’s why it’s considered to be effective in initializing whether or not someone is HIV+…with the other tests (ELISA and WB) as backups and reinforcements.
Combine that with selective requirements of testing (many performers requiring clean 2- to 3-day tests), voluntary condom usage, and selectivity of partners both on and off the set, and the risk falls off nearly to 100%. Of course, there will always be the risk of an accidental infection, but at least the screening and testing process does do the job of containing and quarantining any possible threats so that as few as humanly possible are infected.
And, in this case, the system worked as it should have.
I still would love to know how that false “reactive” test came about, though. Was it really an error..or was it something a bit more sinister?? Anyone who is capable of siccing fake health agents with syringes to performers’ homes attempting to get blood samples, would be very much capable of faking a positive test to invoke enough panic to push their condom mandate. It just doesn’t smell right to me.
Anthony
Anthony, I think attention should be focused on the initial testing lab(s) in question, for a couple of reasons:
1) The possibility that shoddy testing and interpretive work was done;
2) The fact that the non-APHSS approved labs (such as Talent Testing; I’m not accusing them in particular of anything — although Weinstein DID mention them favorably the other day. Hmmmmm…) offer poor, or NO, medical follow-up for patients because they have no in-house doctor. Consequently, they offer no, or potentially unsound and unreliable, medical advice — reportedly, they just send patients with reactive or positive test results to the county. (“Sorry, you’re positive. Here’s a number to call at County Health. Next!”)
The lab stories I’ve heard from people on the ground in Florida (the reputed location for this case) are horrifying.
And, let me repeat, under the mad AIDS Inc. paradigm, where NO test or series of tests is conclusive (because the insert literature on ALL tests declares that further confirmatory testing is needed) no one on the face of the earth can decree Patient Alpha’s HIV status with 100 PER CENT certainty for at least another couple of months. We are not dealing with 100% absolutes, and there are many variables.
As Ernest Greene describes above, if a patient HAS the HIV antibodies, (s)he’s infected. This, however, was apparently a case where the anti-body tests did not detect any — and that left two possibilities: Patient Alpha was newly infected, or was not infected at all.
Michael Weinstein’s insane suggestion that two Rapid ELISA tests would be conclusive is both idiotic and devious. To Weinstein, tests are only good for one thing: so that AHF pharmacies can add patients to their client roster and start selling them costly (no to mention toxic) AIDS drugs. Testing is only a means to an end — the end being profit. In a nutshell, that’s why he pushes highly ineffective condoms over testing: when people get infected (or falsely diagnosed) with HIV, AHF wins. The bottom line for Weinstein & Co: the more customers at AHF clinics, the better.
Thanks Anthony. But all the tests are B.S. And thus, we should say once and for all that the “HIV scare is over”!
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/house-numbers/
As long as there’s a windfall to be had by AIDS Inc., the global HIV scare will never be over.
It’d be over if the brainwashed masses would awaken instead of allowing themselves to be bamboozled.
Our loss is their gain. We should turn that shit around.