- NEW YORK (Reuters
Health) - Two types of bacteria never before linked to body piercing have
been identified as the cause of infections in four teenagers who underwent
the body art.
-
- ``I think this should raise the issue, are the instruments
for body piercing appropriately sterilized and cleaned (before) they're
used again?'' Dr. Gary W. Procop of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in
Ohio told Reuters Health.
-
- The four case reports were published in the July issue
of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
-
- In one report, researchers describe the case of a 17-year-old
girl who developed an infection and lump in her breast a year after she
had a nipple piercing. Lab tests found the girl had been infected with
mycobacteria, a form of bacteria resistant to decontamination with soap
and water. This type of bacteria is most commonly associated with re-used
needles in underdeveloped countries, Procop noted.
-
- ``From a public health standpoint, we would want to make
sure that these people who perform body piercings have sterilized instruments,''
Procop said. ``A higher level is needed to avoid mycobacteria that can
be transmitted.''
-
- In a separate report, doctors at Georgetown University
School of Medicine in Washington, DC, describe three cases in which teenagers
were infected with anaerobic bacteria following body piercing of the nipple,
nose and belly. All of the teens were treated with antimicrobial drugs
known to work against anaerobic bacteria and had no further recurrences.
-
- The presence of anaerobic bacteria suggest the skin surface
had not been appropriately disinfected, Procop said.
-
- ``If I were going to get body pierced,'' he advised,
``I would want an instrument sterilized in an autoclave (a pressurized,
heated device) and I'd want the skin decontaminated with something like
iodine followed by alcohol.''
-
- SOURCE: Clinical Infectious Diseases 2001;33:131-134,
e12-13.
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