Tattoo customers in 3 states get infections

(for the unsterile scratchers out there and your fans) ATLANTA - A worrisome superbug seen in prisoners and athletes is also showing up in people who get illegal tattoos, federal health officials said Thursday. Forty-four tattoo customers in Ohio, Kentucky and Vermont developed skin infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The infections occurred in 2004 and 2005, and were traced to 13 unlicensed tattoo artists, according to an article in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. These are the first documented cases if tattoo-related MRSA infections, said Dr. Mysheika LeMaile-Williams, a CDC infectious disease investigator who co-authored the report. MRSA is an antibiotic-resistant bacteria that fights off the body's immune system and destroys tissues. The community-associated variety, seen in the tattoo infections, has been diagnosed in otherwise healthy athletes, military recruits and prison inmates. The skin infections can be transmitted from person to person by contact with draining sores, or through contact with contaminated items or surfaces. MRSA generally causes mild skin infections, but in some cases has led to pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and a painful, flesh-destroying condition called necrotizing fasciitis. Clusters of MRSA cases were seen in Ohio in June 2004, November 2004 and April 2005, involving 33 people. A four-person cluster was reported in Kentucky in May 2005 and a seven-person cluster was in Vermont in August. Four of the patients were hospitalized, but all recovered, LeMaile-Williams said. Ohio, Kentucky and Vermont require licensing for tattoo artists, but all the affected customers went to unlicensed artists. Instead of doing the work in tattoo parlors, the body art was done in the homes of the tattooists or the recipients, or even in public places such as a park. The tattooists sometimes did not use masks or gloves, did not properly disinfect skin and did not properly clean the equipment. One Ohio tattooist used a homemade tattoo gun made from a computer ink-jet cartridge and guitar strings, LeMaile-Williams said. Three of the Ohio tattooists had recently been jailed, she said. Customers sometimes seek out unlicensed tattooists because their services are less expensive, or because they are younger than 18 and cannot go to a licensed tattooist without parental consent, she said. Several of the infected patients were under 18, she added. The tattoo cases are not surprising, said Dr. Kate Heilpern, an Atlanta emergency room physician and Emory University researcher who has studied MRSA. The superbug is appearing in locker rooms, homes and many other unsterile places where people are in skin-to-skin contact. "We are still riding a big wave of this bacterial infection and I really don't see any end in sight," she said. ___ On the Net: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov

We already know dear...lokk at Docs thread..."another thing to worry about!!! But thanks sweetie!!

look not lokkDAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And this shit is a KILLER!! We tattoo artists need to be extra careful...this stuff ain't no joke baby!!

Darling, i just read his post, although it say's nothing about tattooing and being unsterile.

Same shit tho kid...so SHADDUP!...Hey download the IM for myspace...its easier to yell at ya that way!!

....bump...... Should make this post a sticky under the "I'm underage and can't wait to get a playboy bunny on my booty" posts.

That's why I posted the earlier article, this ain't nothin' to mess with, but then, neither are alot of the others we're exposed to. The thing I've said for years is-'assume EVERYONE you are about to tattoo has every disease known to man and three they have't even identified yet, make super sure you don't expose yourself to it (and take it home to your family) AND, make super sure you don't do ANYTHING that could possibly pass it to your next client' and we all know (unfortunately) you cannot tell by looking at someone what that person could be carrying. At least the article about the tat infections states they were all in scatchers/unlicensed shops, think how much worse had it been in 'professional' studios. Obviously the bacteria doesn't stand up to an AutoClave and Universal Precautions (Thankfully, right?) Protect yourselves people and your clients.....Do

Hey Doc...ya comin to our Halloween Shindig?...we would LOVE to have ya!...TAz & Nutty and all the TattooNOW Nightcrawlers!

Yep yep, all of you folks who posted the info are on the ball today. Thats the deal though, these kids arent -thinking- about getting sick. They arent thinking about anything but getting it now now now. It wont/cant happen to -them-.... they have the invincibility that only youth can give, yah? *sigh*