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Fritz Francois, MD, a researcher
from New York University Langone Medical Center, reports that people with
hepatitis C are four times more likely to have tattoos, regardless of other
risk factors. The estimate is based on a study of 2,000 hepatitis C-infected
people who had not received a blood transfusion before 1992 or reported a
history of injecting drugs.
According to CDC, 3.2 million people
in the United States have hepatitis C, although some may not realize it because
they have not yet developed symptoms. Injected drug use is responsible for 60
percent of new hepatitis C diagnoses each year; 70 percent of those infected
develop chronic liver disease, the leading U.S. cause of liver transplants and
liver cancer. CDC reports that 20 percent of hepatitis C-infected people say
they have no history of injected drug use. A 2012 Harris poll estimated that 20
percent of people have a tattoo.
CDC spokesperson Scott Holmberg, MD
recommends that people who want to be tattooed go to a trained professional for
piercings or tattooing. Because there are no federal regulations for tattoo
parlors and standards vary from state to state, Francois urges people to
research tattoo parlors carefully. According to the Alliance for Professional
Tattooists, it is important to find a tattooist who uses disposable gloves, “a
clean workspace without blood spatters, and single-use, disposable needles.”
The full report, “Association of
Tattooing and Hepatitis C Virus Infection: A Multicenter Case-Control Study,”
was published online in the journal Hepatology (2013; doi: 10.1002/hep.26245).
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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