A Study Shows that Amateur Tattoos May Carry Hepatitis C Risk

If you're planning on getting a tattoo, make sure it's from a professional and not a friend because ink work by amateurs may carry a risk of Hepatitis C, according to a new report.

In an analysis of several dozen past studies, researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that tattoos from non-professionals appear to increase the risk of a possible blood-borne liver infection.

By contrast, there is no evidence that tattoos done by professionals carried such a risk.

Hepatitis C remains a major public health problem in the United States with between 75 and 85 percent of people infected with the disease developing chronic infection that can lead to serious diseases such as cirrhosis and liver cancer.

The illness is passed to people through contact with infected blood.

In the United States, there are roughly 18,000 new Hepatitis C infections every year, mostly when people who inject drugs share tainted needles or syringes.

But there are other ways of contracting the disease.

"Tattoos and piercings can transmit hepatitis C and other infections if performed under non-sterile conditions," Rania Tohme, an epidemiologist at the CDC who led the study, told Reuters Health in an email.

"People should not have tattoos or piercings done by friends or by people who are not trained professionals."

The findings, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, are based on a collection of studies that have been made public since 1994.

In general, people who had tattoos by non-professionals faced a hepatitis C risk that was two to four times higher than average.

Prison tattoos are a particular problem, Tohme's team wrote, because tattooing is so common and inmates may have other risk factors for Hepatitis C.

"To this date, there has been no evidence that tattoos and piercings performed in professional parlors in the United States have been implicated in transmission of hepatitis C virus," Tohme said.

If going to a non-professional, though, there are some precautions that can be taken, Tohme said.

"Disposable piercing needles, tattoo needles and razors are used on one person and then thrown away. Reusing needles or razors is not safe," Tohme added. – Reuters

Thirteen tips for healthy life in 2013

Preachy healthy lifestyle advice often seems to take the joy out of living, but here are 13 simple steps that will help keep you on track without feeling guilty

Grill a rasher of back bacon, a tomato, some mushrooms and a slice of wholegrain toast; add an egg poached or scrambled in a little semi-skimmed milk and enjoy it all with an Americano or a cuppa. It’s a more nutritious, more filling option than fat and sugar-laden “Continental” pastries, juice and lattes.

Stop multitasking

Keep your anxiety levels down by stopping trying to do lots of things at once. It takes longer than completing them one at a time, brain researchers believe. Multitasking only works if you are very practised at both activities - like talking and walking.

Give up perfectionism

Perfectionists tend to be people pleasers, but often end up driving colleagues nuts because they take on too much and fail to deliver on time. Good enough is fine.

Make new connections

Bored by friends or colleagues? Don’t feel bad. The most creative executives, research has shown, have excellent “discovery skills” - they are always seeking out new connections and ideas.

Let your mind wander

Are you a bit of a daydreamer? Congratulations - trying to stay focussed all the time prevents different parts of your brain make creative, surprising connections, neuroscientists suggest. It’s why “Eureka” moments often occur when doing something unrelated to the task in hand.

Avoid meetings

Sometimes the whole day can be taken up my meetings, preventing you doing your own work. So keep them to a minimum, and rest assured that contrary to received wisdom, brainstorming produces fewer high quality ideas than working independently - probably because we can’t pass the buck.

Don’t put the kettle on

If you feel mean because you rarely do the office coffee run, don’t. Experiments have shown that the kindness of strangers is often more appreciated than that of close associates, who may just be trying to curry favour.

It’s a wrap

Swap your lunchtime baguette or sandwich for a wrap with lean meat or fish and lots of salad. Yes it looks bigger, but there’s a higher proportion of filling to bread, which is more nutritious and sustaining.

Pub lunch

Tuck into a couple of slices of chicken or lean roast beef, a colourful range of veg (to get the biggest variety of nutrients) and two small roasties. That is a better balance than a Ploughman’s with a hunk of cheese, butter, white bread and pickle.

Eat pasta

If you love Italian food, a small portion of pasta and lots of sauce full of veg and/or lean protein like Napolitana or Marinara is a healthier option than a pizza - which is mainly dough and cheese with only sprinkling of nutritious bits.

Frozen food

Frozen food like peas and fish often has fresher ingredients than chilled ready meals - which come with expensive packaging and more preservatives. Frozen may be cheaper, but it’s not always junk food.

Play a computer game

They can make hard things seems possible, encourage our active involvement and unite strangers or friends in a common cause. You can’t say that about a DVD of Downton Abbey.

Cry, baby

A 2012 study suggested that eight-month-old babies whose parents had used “controlled crying” techniques to get them off to sleep had come to no harm when followed up five years later - but the parents were in better shape than those who had left their babies to cry.

Let teenagers sleep

We all know about teenage hormones, but less understood is that they affect sleeping patterns. Teenagers whose sleep is disturbed have similar symptoms to jet lag, so don’t get wound-up by those weekend lie-ins.

Source: The Telegraph UK

Eating junk food linked to asthma and eczema in children

Eating junk food just three times a week may lead to asthma and eczema in children, scientists have found.

The high saturated fat levels in food such as burgers lower children's immune systems, it is believed.

A research project involving more than 50 countries found that teenagers who ate junk food three times a week or more were 39 per cent more likely to get severe asthma. Younger children were 27 per cent more at risk.

Both were also more prone to the eye condition rhinoconjunctivitis, according to The Sun newspaper

But just three weekly portions of fruit and vegetables could cut that risk by 14 per cent in the younger group and 11 per cent among the teens, it is believed.

Researchers from New Zealand's Auckland University looked at the diets of 181,000 youngsters aged six to seven and 319,000 aged 13-14.

The scientists then asked if the children had allergy symptoms.

They wrote in the journal Thorax, where the study is published: "Fast food may be contributing to increasing asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema.

"Regular consumption of fruit and vegetables is likely to protect against these diseases."

In the UK alone 1.1 million children already suffer with asthma and one in five get eczema.

The team of researchers warn that their results do not prove cause and effect.


Author: Hayley Dixon, The Telegraph UK