People who won't get hypos cover their bodies with Tattoos - risk infections in U.S. linked to contaminated ink

Not just in the US either. As one who got a tattoo years before there new popularity, it was a painful revelation during the application and so was the lecture from a physician.
The doctor told me, after the fact, in no uncertain terms, how stupid I was in getting one. Risks of infections are always high, no matter how regulated the tattooist was. Then, as now. the risk dangers included all levels of hepatitis, any blood disease and even an outside risk of leprosy. There was still a leper colony on Molokai then.
Over 40 years ago there were few tattoo shops. I had to go to Long Beach, Calif. near the Pike. It was the closest one near L.A. still open in those days. After getting the tattoo and looking in the mirror the next morning, I had the sinking sensation of the permanent personal physical change. It wasn't me anymore, it was as if my old arm was gone, and it was in a way.
That was by no means the end though. As I aged, so did the tattoo. Colors faded, bled together and generally lost definition of lines. It became kind of an old looking shaped bruise.

Tattoo infections in U.S. linked to contaminated ink | Reuters

Aug 22, 2012 

* Infections prompted CDC probe

* FDA does not directly regulate tattoo inks

By Gene Emery

Aug 22 (Reuters Health) - Contaminated tattoo ink caused at least 22 skin and soft tissue infections last fall in four U.S. states, according to an analysis released on Wednesday.

The infections prompted an investigation by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that uncovered 22 confirmed cases, 4 probable cases and 27 possible cases of contamination-related infections in New York, Washington, Iowa and Colorado.

Products from four companies were implicated during the probe. None of the companies is identified in a CDC report, released in conjunction with a New England Journal of Medicine study of the New York cases.

"People who get tattoos must be made aware of this risk and seek medical attention" if they get a rash or other abnormalities at the site, according to a commentary in the journal from a team led by Pamela LeBlanc of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The bacteria got into the containers when the manufacturer used distilled or reverse-osmosis water, which is not necessarily sterile. In the New York cases, which led to a recall by the Arizona-based manufacturer, the water was used to dilute black ink into various shades of gray.

The New York cases involved infection with a bug called Mycobacterium chelonae, which caused reddish or purple raised bumps in the areas tattooed with gray. The infection can mimic an allergic reaction and be difficult to treat.

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