HIV infection strikes porn industry

California's multi-billion-dollar adult porn industry ground to a virtual halt on Thursday after a popular actor tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS.

Industry advocates immediately called for a 60-day moratorium on filming so that others could be tested.

Actor Darren James tested positive for HIV on Wednesday in screening conducted routinely on the industry's 1,200 regular actors by the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, the foundation's Dr Elizabeth Mitchell said.

They must show negative tests to keep working in the industry, Mitchell said, adding that only about 17 percent of performers use condoms.

James, the first porn actor to test positive for the virus since 1999, had a "stellar record" of tests - negative every three weeks for the past seven years, she said.

Mitchell said James may have contracted the virus about four weeks ago while filming in Brazil on a "non-condom" set.

The Los Angeles-based industry, which normally films three to four films a day, must now wait 60 days to learn whether the deadly virus spread to 14 actresses who had onscreen sex with James, or to the 35 sex partners the women subsequently had. The at-risk actors have been quarantined until June 8, and Mitchell has advocated a moratorium on shooting until the extent of the infection is known.