from www.laweekly.com – Porn star Lisa Ann has taken to Twitter to say she was booked over the weekend to work with a male performer who might have tested positive for Hepatitis C and tried to work anyway.

The male star was not identified. Ann says she put two and two together after discovering he was listed as “not available” to work on two adult performer testing databases:

She says she talked to others in the business who confirmed her fears.

Derek Hay, owner of LA Direct Models, which represents the male performer, didn’t exactly deny it. He told Xbiz:

The adult industry does not currently require someone to demonstrate negative test results for Hepatitis in order for a performer to be cleared to work.

… As far as the allegation that Lisa Ann has made I cannot comment other than to say I have no evidence that supports her allegation and any information that we have at the agency shows him testing cleared for work. And through all of the last three to four months when what must be the time period that Lisa Ann alleges a positive test result, we have no record or information that he has not been cleared for work. Based on her public allegation today we are doing some investigative work to review if there is any truth to her allegation, but have nothing of substance from which to investigate.

Adult industry blogger Mike South notes that for now the hepatitis test is optional for performers even though the disease can now arguably be deadlier than HIV.

One could argue that this scenario proves that the industry’s performer testing works: The male in question was not cleared for work in the databases, Lisa Ann says, a warning to her to stay away.

But she said that he showed her a test from an outside-the-industry facility that didn’t indicate any results for hepatitis, a possibly sneaky move if all this proves to be true.

The situation comes only days after a performer believed he possibly tested positive for syphilis and might have exposed 15 others. He turned out to be negative as a result of “confirmatory” tests, the Free Speech Coalition said.

The AIDS Health Care Foundation used that occasion to ask L.A. County authorities to investigate the locally based porn business, because adult video shoots are under a new law requiring condom use in most of L.A.

Meanwhile, we reached out to Derek Hay, the industry lobbying group known as the Free Speech Coalition, and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation for comment but had yet to hear back.

[Added at 3:44 p.m.]: AHF president Michael Weinstein told the Weekly his group wouldn’t call for an investigation into this matter and argued that Hep C, if that’s what’s involved here, isn’t really an STD as much as a disease transmitted often through intravenous needle use.

That said, he did express concern that once again, in his opinion, the adult industry’s testing protocol might have done little to prevent an allegedly infected performer from working.

He said if this involved someone new to the industry instead of Lisa Ann, who had the smarts to check things out, the allegations might never have been found out.