UPDATE: Canberra prostitute Hector Scott has pleaded guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court to charges of failing to register as a sex worker and knowingly providing sexual services while infected with HIV.

Mr Scott will be sentenced on March 20.

EARLIER: A Canberra prostitute who allegedly continued to work despite being HIV positive is appearing in the ACT Magistrates Court today.

It's understood Hector Scott, 41, is pleading not guilty to a charge of providing sexual services while being infected with a sexually transmitted disease and failing to register as a sex worker.

ACT Health meanwhile has been contacting 250 people thought to be possible clients of the man in order to advise them to seek medical care if necessary. Health alerts have also been issued in other states, as well as New Zealand, where Mr Scott holidayed last year.

But the Scarlet Alliance, the Australian sex workers association, has criticised the authorities' handling of the case.

"His chances of a fair trial are remote, given the way personal information has been released out of court and in such a public manner," the group's CEO Janelle Fawkes said today.

"The handling of this matter has raised unnecessary community concern."

“Rather than taking a public health approach, the media has been used in such a way as to alarm the public, with little regard for providing accurate information about HIV or prevention of transmission," she said.

“The public is left with a message that stigmatizes sex workers, and all people living with the HIV virus."

She said there was no evidence that Mr Scott had actually infected anyone with HIV, and that Australian sex workers implemented safe sex practices on a daily basis.