“Patient Zeta” and the porn industry's handling of his HIV infection is in the news again. “Patient Zeta” is a porn star named Derrick Burts who says he tested HIV positive after having unprotected sex on the sets of a few flicks. The facility that tested Burts, the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, accused him of stepping out on his girl with another man. And Burts decided to come forward, release his identity, and speak out against AIM, and expose its questionable practices.
Well, according to a report presented in March at a conference held at San Diego State University, there's no doubt that the porn industry is at fault for Burts's illness.
“Limited cooperation from many adult film industry companies restricted this contact investigation. Rarely did industry legal counsel give information for investigation,” wrote Dr. Francisco Meza, a physician with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Epidemic Intelligence Service. Meza helped the California Department of Public Health in its probe of how the HIV infection was handled.
Turns out, the DoPH has found that Burts is right. He contracted the disease from one of two male porn stars that he had sex with while filming movies. But for some reason, though the report was presented at an earlier conference, the CDC has decided not to present it at their conference in Atlanta. And they're refusing to say why. Kinda fishy if you ask us.