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news
Tattoos can cause
deadly virus
By Alexandria
Sullivan
Daily Forty- Niner
Skin-art junkies
beware; tattoos may be more than a sign of individual expression,
they can increase a person's chance of contracting hepatitis
C, a virus that causes liver damage.
People with tattoos
are nine times more likely to get hepatitis C than those without
them, according to a study done by Dr. Robert Haley of the
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Dr. Paul
Fischer of the Presbyterian hospital in Dallas.
The researchers
tested 626 hepatitis C- infected patients and 113 had tattoos.
Fifty-two of these patients received their tattoo from a commercial
parlor, and one-third contracted the disease, according to
an article in the New York Times.
If hepatitis C
goes untreated, it can cause chronic hepatitis. Twenty percent
of patients with chronic hepatitis develop cirrhosis of the
liver, which leads to liver failure, according to the Hepatitis
Foundation Web site.
"It can be
fatal," said Dr. Rebecca Wills, chief staff physician
at the Student Health Services. "The major consideration
with hepatitis C is that you can have it without being symptomatic."
Symptoms of the
virus include nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite, fever, headaches
and abdominal pain. An enzyme immunoassay test is conducted
to find antibodies against hepatitis C in the blood, according
to the foundation.
"I think there
is always a growing concern to have anything these days with
transmission of blood," said Rebecca Green, junior communication
major with a tattoo. "To me it looked like [the artist]
went through all of the processes to make it clean and sanitary."
Richard Walter
is the manger of Bert Grimms, the oldest tattoo shop in America
that has been in business since 1927. Walters has been tattooing
for more than 20 years.
"If I started
passing out diseases I would not make a living," he said.
Hepatitis C can
be transmitted from an unsterile needle or reusing ink on
another customer, Wills said. So Walters and his artists use
individual ink cups and a new needle for each patron, he said.
"There is
some late information that viruses can live up to two weeks
on an inanimate object," Wills said.
She also said students
who want tattoos should be aware and ask questions. Some questions
can include whether the artist uses disposable or hollow needles,
reusable ink and if customers are required to fill out questionnaires
about their health history.
Most shops have
customers fill out the questionnaires, Walters said, but the
parlors do not have a disclaimer of the health risks involved
in getting a tattoo.
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