LOS ANGELES—Yesterday AVN received a tip from a reliable source with knowledge of adult video production in Europe who said that there is currently an outbreak of syphilis in Budapest.
AVN was able to corroborate the tip with Sandy's Models and Brill Babes, two of the biggest modeling agencies in the Hungarian capital.
The infection is widespread enough that all production has been put on hold in Budapest until Aug. 21.
"There is some serious situation here in Budapest," Cameron of Sandy's Models told AVN. "Yesterday the Labor [department] sent a warning e-mail that they found that syphillis-infected people’s number dramatically increased."
AVN Hall of Famer Rocco Siffredi, who's based in Budapest, told AVN Tuesday that "today the number of people infected are [raised] to 21 and is not over!"
Both Cameron and Eszter of Brill Babes put the number of syphilis infections at 18 (14 females and four males), with eight female performers receiving positive results on Monday alone.
"All the models go to double syphillis check from yesterday, and the whole business stops till the 21st of August," Eszter of Brill Babes told AVN. "After the 21st everyone should retest again, and only the totally clear people are able to work in the future. Maybe the break will take longer; we'll see."
It's not known at this point where the infection originated, but Siffredi pointed out that many foreign performers come to Budapest to shoot, and that he suspects the infection came from somewhere else.
"The big problem is that not only local performers are involved but also Czech and Russian where we believe that this all think start [sic]," he said.
AVN will be following this story as it develops.
All models were at least 18 years old at the time of their performance. 18 U.S.C. 2257 Record-Keeping Requirements Compliance Statement.
