- Tattoo VS HIV
Ontario health officials are urging people who received tattoos or piercings at two southern Ontario parlours this summer to undergo blood tests for HIV and hepatitis, after they were found to have used unsterilized equipment.
The Niagara public health department is searching for 40 customers of Venom Ink – which has parlours in St. Catharines and Niagara Falls – who may have been exposed to diseases during visits in July and August.
The health agency said there is a “low risk” that people who visited the business may have been exposed to HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C because non-sterilized equipment was used.
Kate-Lynn Portugaise received a body piercing from the St. Catharines location this summer. Although she had complications following the procedure, she said she has no plans to get tested.
“Whenever I got pierced, it was all pussing and bloody and red so I just had to take it out,” she said. “I think I’m OK, but I don’t know.”
The Niagara Falls shop was closed Friday, with owner Apollo Knarr unavailable for comment.
Darryl White, a customer of that location, said he’s not concerned about infection, adding staff complied with the orders of the health department.
“I was here when the health board was here,” White said. “They did tests on the spot and they said you’ve got to stop piercing and they did.”
The health department, however, is urging anyone who received services from Venom Ink to get tested.
Article From canada.com, October 03, 2008
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