Correction (Feb 11, 2008)
The original article, which was based on news wires reports, stated that Hector Scott has been charged with knowingly infecting someone with a sexually transmitted disease is incorrect.
In fact he was charged with offering an escort service without being registered, and secondly, that he provided a commercial sexual service whilst he knew he had an STI. Scott appeared in court on Feb 7 and pleaded guilty to both those charges and also to a third drink driving charge. There is no evidence that Hector Scott infected anybody with anything and nor has any evidence been presented that indicates that Scott practiced anything other than safe sex.
He will be sentenced on 20 March.
In a statement sent to Fridae on Feb 8, the AIDS Action Council of the ACT highlighted their concern "inaccurate and/or sensational reporting undermines some very important health messages, and further provides opportunities for stigmatisation and discrimination against sex workers and people living with HIV/AIDS."
The statement read:
1. It is an offence to work as a sex worker if you are HIV+ in the ACT, but legal in New South Wales, which is a mere 5 kilometres away from where Scott was alleged to have operated
2. It is an offence to either give or receive sex in a commercial situation without the use of prophylactics. This means that the law places the obligation for safe sex equally on both parties
3. Anybody who had sex with Scott and used a condom was not at risk of contracting HIV. Anyone who chose not to use a condom committed an offence if it was a commercial transaction
4. Sex workers in Australia have much lower rates of STIs than the general community and are therefore more at risk than are their clients
5. Australia has one of the world's lowest rates of HIV transmission because the regulated sex industry and HIV positive people have demonstrated responsible attitudes and practices since the beginning of the epidemic.
There is no doubt that Hector Scott has done the wrong thing and has pleaded guilty to three relatively minor offences. It is wrong, however, to suggest or infer from the facts presented, that there has been anybody placed at risk through his actions.
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The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) health authorities has launched a nationwide appeal to contact 250 people who may have been exposed to HIV by a HIV-positive sex worker.
ACT Chief Health Officer Charles Guest on Wednesday following the former's appearance in a ACT Magistrates Court earlier this month. Hector Scott was charged with knowingly infecting someone with a sexually transmitted disease and failing to register as a sex worker.
The details of the disease were not known at the time of the court hearing. It is believed Scott may have contracted the disease in 1999.
Heath authorities in Australia are now seeking to contact the 250 people who had been in contact with Scott the weeks prior to his arrest on Jan 4. According to local media reports, the estimate is based on the Police's assessment of Scott's phone records.
The health officials have made a public appeal as the 41-year-old has refused to give police a list of his clients. Counsellors from the health service have started calling people on the list after receiving very few calls to a helpline it set up. The people contacted will be invited to be counselled and tested for sexually transmitted infections.
"Bear in mind please 250 is just the number of phone numbers and he may have been phoning family friends, businesses - there are all sorts of other reasons," Dr Guest said. "That may be a very inflated figure of the number of people that he had sex with or unprotected sex with."
"The extraordinary effort that we're taking to communicate with people who may have been in contact with the sex worker has led us now to start calling people and advising them to be tested and explaining what the consequences of the testing would be," he said.
According to the ACT chief health officer, Scott - who advertised under the names Adam and Josh - had advertised his services as a sex worker in newspapers last year.
The ACT Health Department had known about Scott's work since Dec 20 when notified by another jurisdiction but did not issue him with a public health order to stop working. The department alerted police within 24 hours.
ACT Health has notified other states and territory authorities to help track down Scott's interstate clients while New Zealand police have also joined the investigation after Scott spent a week there over Christmas, according to media reports.
Meanwhile, HIV/AIDS groups have taken the chance to reinforce the safer sex message following the publicity of the case.
Douglas Jenkin, New Zealand AIDS Foundation's National Campaigns Co-ordinator, said in a statement that "this case is a reminder that clients - or anyone else - engaging in sex have an equal responsibility to insist on condom use."
"HIV will not be an issue for you if you're always using condoms and water-based lube for anal and vaginal sex. The virus cannot pass through an intact latex condom. It's important to remember that up to a third of people living with HIV do not know they have it," Jenkin says.
"You could be putting yourself at risk of infection without even realising."
Scott will face ACT Magistrates Court on February 7.
Anyone who believes they have urged anyone who may have been exposed to the virus to immediately contact their general practitioner, the Canberra Sexual Health Centre or call ACT Health on 1800 000 974.