Tattoos and The Risk of Contracting Hepatitis C

http://tattoodesignevolution.blogspot.com/A recent study finds that people with tattoos were almost three times more likely to have hepatitis C as those without tattoos. In addition, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that, "Whenever tattoos or body piercings are performed in informal settings or with non-sterile instruments, transmission of hepatitis C and other infectious diseases is possible." On the other hand, according to Wikipedia, it is rare for tattoos in an approved facility to be directly associated with Hepatitis C infection. To further help reduce the risks of contracting this infectious disease University of Cincinnati's Marlene von Friederichs-Fitzwater suggests five questions that should be asked before getting a tattoo: 1. Does the tattoo artist use only new needles?
2. Does the tattoo artist use new ink caps for each client?
3. Does the artist sterilize all equipment that may come in to contact with blood? (Ask to see sterilization logs and their process which they’ll be happy to show you if they run their shop as they should).
4. Does the artist wear single use latex gloves or similar sanitary gloves? (Watch them take gloves out of the box so you know they weren’t used before).
5. Does the artist cover the fresh tattoos to prevent infection or hepatitis c virus transmission?
Mrs. Marlene von Friederichs-Fitzwater also warns that some shops try to process/clean/sterilize used needles – something they shouldn’t do and some tattooists neglect to apply clean sterile absorbent dressing on new tattoos - something they really should do.
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