Research has shown that the ‘innocent’ tattoo may have a little secret hiding inside, other than its personal representation to the person.

Having a tattoo done has recently been proven to be the number one distributor of Hepatitis, Tetanus, Syphilis, Tuberculosis and alarmingly, even HIV. You are more likely to contract hepatitis specifically from a tattoo shop than from injecting yourself with drugs.

The study found that people who get a tattoo in a sanitized commercial tattoo parlour, and not even a prison backyard, are nine times more likely to get the deadly and fatal disease hepatitis C. A tattooing machine can puncture the skin up to 3000 times per minute and every prick becomes an open door to fatal blood-borne diseases.

If you consider the evidence that drug-users, criminals, rock artists, deviants and homosexuals are the most common group that have tattoos done and who have also been proven to carry the highest rate of infectious diseases, then making sure those tiny needles are sterile is a game of russian roulette that you yourself must decide to embark on or not.

When you take into account that Hepatitis B can be transmitted with as little as 0.00004 ml of blood, and unlike other diseases can survive for up to two months on blood contaminated surfaces, needles, tattoo machines and tablets, the risk of contracting hepatitis is very real.

The virus which is spread by infected blood and infected needles shockingly claims more than 10 000 lives each year. With no cure available, Hepatitis C is said to be more infectious and dangerous than HIV/AIDS. So much so that in the year 1961, New York City banned the ‘deadly’ tattoo after an outbreak of Hepatitis. The ban was only lifted in 1997.

When this information became known, many people questioned how it was possible that a supposedly sanitary tattoo parlour can be such a nesting point for deadly infectious blood-borne diseases. The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) then put the idea forward that tattoo parlours as well as body piercing venues are not held to the same sterility standards as other commercial industries that deal with needles and blood such as hospitals, doctors offices and clinics, thereby giving the tattoo shop owners the choice on how sterile their equipment and environment will be.

Perhaps the most iconic person to ever contract Hepatitis C was the blonde bombshell, Pamela Anderson, who claims she contracted the virus from ex-husband Tommy Lee Jones, when instead of getting nuptial rings, they had each other’s name tattooed on their ring fingers. They shared the needles.

Share this post