NBC LA News RAW Interviews Karen Stagliano
Here are a few of the things she had to say- (written by me, not word for word)
The reporter asks Karen about how she got HIV in the industry in 1998. Karen says, Back then we were only testing every 90 days and we were only doing anti-body screenings so it was easier for somebody to slip through the cracks. Not everything was standardized….
…After this (happened to me) the business went to 30 day testing and testing for directly for the virus, not just the anti-bodies. This got rid of 99% of the false negatives.
What happened in the outbreak of 2004?
A performer went to work outside the country in Brazil and when they got back they worked for about two weeks before their next test.
In this newest incident I don’t feel that our precautions failed us. (Patient Z) was caught as soon as she possibly could be.
It is most likely that the HIV + performer contracted it outside the industry and that she worked with very few people.
If anyone thinks that coming in to this business is 100% safe, they are a little bit foolish. I think having sex in the adult industry is safer then it is in the general population.
If someone in the industry does have risky behavior it gets around as a rumor and that person doesn’t get very much work and what happens when you don’t get much work? You leave. So we do a pretty good job of self policing.
You can see the whole video, 14 minutes worth at
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/HIV_and_Porn_Los_Angeles.html