Tattoo Blog

Austalian Tourist Gets infect from HIV After getting Tattoo In Bali

An Australia man has got infect from HIV after getting a tattoo during a vacation in Bali. Australian health authorities are warning the Australians tourist who has gotten tattoos or body piercings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali to take medical advice and getting a HIV test, according to news reports.

Australian health authorities also reportedly notified the Indonesian health authorities.

Western Australia Health director of communicable disease control Paul Armstrong told Australia’s ABC News: “Anybody who has had a tattoo in Bali or a body piercing in Bali should consider the information that’s come out and talk to their doctor about getting tested for HIV.”

The man’s personal details have not been released, but it he reportedly tested positive to HIV after returning to Australia.

“All the evidence points to a tattoo received recently in Bali as being the source of the infection,” read a statement from the WA Department of Health, cited by Agence France-Presse.

The department has instructed that apart from HIV, travellers were also potentially exposing themselves to Hepatitis B and C as well as bacterial infections.

Indonesian Officials Investigates Bali Tattoo HIV Infection Report 

“Indonesia health authorities is investigating the case of an Australian who is believed to have been infected with HIV while getting a tattoo on the resort island of Bali, an official said Monday.”

“We received a report about this case from the Australian health ministry yesterday and officials will be visiting tattoo parlours today to verify this claim,” Bali health department chief Nyoman Sutedja told AFP.

“At this point, we are still investigating. We can’t say for sure if the patient caught the virus from getting a tattoo or sexual contact,” he added.

There are currently 4,200 HIV/AIDS cases on Bali, Sutedja said.

Indonesian officials said last year that the number of known HIV/AIDS cases on Bali was soaring, with one in four prostitutes reported to be HIV-positive and the number of infections jumping almost 19 percent from the year before.