Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection link to tattoos:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
A survey of 425 orthopaedic patients found 19 (4.5%) were positive for hepatitis C virus (HCV). A team from the University of Washington, Seattle (US) found that the presence of tattoos gave the highest correlation with a positive HCV test, followed by intravenous drug abuse. The latter correlation was only evident after a second interview, as most patients did not report the drug abuse on initial questioning (Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, November 1995).