Industry Syphilis outbreak - UK?

[emmab]

There are rumours all over twitter this morning that models are pulling out of shoots and there is someone diagnosed with Syphilis in the UK?

Noone has named this person or indicated where in the uk they are based.

Is it true or just scare mongering??

[Paul_PRaymond]

There are a couple of threads on BGAFD, so it needs to be said at this stage that there has been ONE reported performer with Syphilis. There are appropriate protocols in place, which are currently working as they should. (these are protocols as discussed between AITA and UKAP. If you don't know these protocols, then please find out! It is important everyone is aware of them!)

Gossip does not help and if anyone has a question about a health scare they need to approach AITA and not spread it on Twitter or other forums.

If any news needs to be given out, it will be given appropriately.

[WG]

It looks like scaremongering!!! emmab wrote:

> There are rumours all over twitter this morning that models are
> pulling out of shoots and there is someone diagnosed with
> Syphilis in the UK?
>
> Noone has named this person or indicated where in the uk they
> are based.
>
> Is it true or just scare mongering??
>
>

[emmab]

'If any news needs to be given out, it will be given appropriately.'

Thats exactly what I thought. I havent seen anything on any of the official sites regarding a Syphilis 'outbreak'

[Paul Taylor]

the link can be found here on what has been setup between AITA and UKAP
http://www.aita.co.uk/?p=1122

[videokim]

Working with people who have recently worked abroad should be done with caution as it throws the whole UK industry into chaos otherwise, we usually ask people who normally work bareback for their last 3 consecutive certs.
If this is outbreak caught quick & persons involved are honest about who they have been with to the clinics this will soon be under control.

[emmab]

The thing is the person involved has informed those who they have worked with etc.
Posting it about on twitter and scare mongering people into not working isn't going to do anyone any good.
The people writting the original messages should have taken it to model forums etc and done it more professionally then writting it all over twitter and slagging everyone off.

Suddenly makes me think all these people slagging everyone off and saying 'I am not working until its fixed' might actually be the person originally diagnosed and looking for an excuse to not work until they are cured.

[jimslip]

Over here in Budapest, the industry is in lock-down. You cannot work without a full test together with an extra Syphilis test that can establish if you have ever had Syphilis in the past. Everyone must go to the same clinic, so it lessens the chances of forgery. Together with this ALL performers regardless, must endure a Penicillin jab from the SAME doctor who confirms he has administered it, in his own written hand on his letterhead. The clinic, doctor and agents can share information as required about an infection if this should arise.

Basically this protocol is as good as it gets and is only possible in a small place like Budapest which is relatively easy to ring-fence. There has not been a witch hunt and everyone has tried to adhere to this protocol, not that they have a choice, because without it they can't work.

The UK is so vast and the remnants of the industry so difficult to police that an outbreak could easily be driven underground and in the end only result with even more people quietly leaving the business.

I don't really think there is an answer as I think the first instinct in the UK is to, "Shoot the messenger" or brush it all under the carpet. Hopefully whoever has been infected with this particularly virulent disease has contacted anyone he or she has worked with in the last couple of months. It is very easy to treat with Penicillin.

I am sure that this present outbreak will be resolved, however the REAL worry is the existence of a strain of Gonorrhoea that has been detected in Japan that is resistant to ALL known antibiotics.

[jimslip]

I said:

"...........however the REAL worry is the existence of a strain of Gonorrhoea that has been detected in Japan that is resistant to ALL known antibiotics."

Unfortunately, I was wrong about this being detected just in Japan:



In the end we may have to change the whole technology in how we in the West treat antibiotic resistant diseases of which there are now many. Luckily, we have technology that trains viruses that live on bacteria to zap little blighters like resistant strains of gonorrhoea. However its not as simple as popping a pill and not as cheap!

[WG]

I agree with Jim, however hypethetically speaking if some dissilusioned individual decided to pretend there was an outbreak and did not give his or her name, then how would we ever know it to be true? Every month I could anonymously post on forums I was a performer and had contracted something and everyone should stop working. In my experience every professional in the industry advises the appropriate people and in at least a few instances, someone like yourself Jim who I trust could verify by saying I know who the performer is and it is true but he/she would prefer to remain anonymous, this would not be the first time that approach would have been taken, in the abscenec of such a confirmation I find it dubious, with that said it is always better to air on the side of INFORMED CAUTION, unfortunately factual information seems to be in short supply.

The UK industry is unlike any other in the WORLD!!!