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Illustrating a Point

Sure tattoos are fun and trendy, but they’re also a hepatitis C health risk.

ive years ago, study findings published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology concluded that tattooing and body piercing are associated with risk-taking activities. Here’s a risk to be aware of: If the conditions for getting a tattoo or piercing are unsanitary, this ups the likelihood of contracting hepatitis C, among other communicable diseases.

Hepatitis C is a contagious liver disease that’s caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). People can contract the disease when they come into contact with infected blood. But many infected people never show symptoms of the disease so they are unaware they contracted it. “Hepatitis C is a very sneaky virus,” says Phyllis Ritchie, MD, an infectious disease specialist with a private practice in Portland, Oregon. “In the early stages of acquiring the virus, most people don’t even know they have it.” (Later stages can include scarring of the liver, called cirrhosis, and even liver failure. But some people may never get sick from their HCV.)

Hepatitis C can be transmitted through intravenous drug use, a dirty needle stick in a hospital setting or tattoo parlor, through blood transfusions and possibly sexual activity, although a number of studies conclude that chances of sexual transmission are extremely low.

“Any of those things can get the hepatitis C virus in the bloodstream,” says Jonathan McCone, MD, in private practice in Alexandria, Virginia. “Once there, it doesn’t go away.”

Research from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases found that out of 3,871 people studied (half with hepatitis C and half without), those with hepatitis C were about three times more likely to have tattoos.

“If people want a tattoo, they must make sure the establishment is licensed, uses clean needles and observes hygienic sanitizing procedures,” Ritchie advises. (The preferred sterilization device for tattoo equipment is an instrument called an autoclave.)

In addition, no matter where people eventually get “carved,” all materials used to produce a tat—such as ointments, tattoo ink, needles, gloves, trays and any other items that come into contact with blood shed during the tattooing process—should be used just once and tossed into a puncture-proof container. And these precautions also apply to prisoners. Inmates aren’t free to visit tattoo parlors, but many use skin art to express themselves.

In short, everything tattoo artists use should be sterilized and uncontaminated. If you’re worried, get

Stay safe: Get skin art smart.

tested to find out your status. And here’s some good news.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved two effective HCV treatment drugs—Incivek (telaprevir) and Victrelis (boceprevir). The meds are used with current hep C treatment, but doctors found that Victrelis doubled the HCV cure rate among African Americans. —Kate Ferguson

A WORTHwhile Cause

Fighting for women in—and after—prison

Imagine giving birth in chains. Or losing custody of your children because you aren’t allowed to contact them. These circumstances face women in prison, whose numbers have swollen by more than 800 percent in three decades. But groups like Women on the Rise Telling HerStory (WORTH) are challenging these policies— and sometimes winning.

Tina Reynolds promotes women’s WORTH.

WORTH works to change policy and improve the lives of currently and formerly incarcerated women, who also make up the group. Since the New

Number of states where prisons don’t offer HIV tests to pregnant women.

Source: National Women’s Law Center, 2010 York group’s 2004 founding, more than 250 women have participated in its workshops and support groups.

“Women are seen as morally inept [if they’ve been in] prison,” says Tina Reynolds, who cofounded WORTH after her own release from jail.

WORTH member Mercedes Smith gave birth while incarcerated 20 years ago. Shackled while in labor on the ride from jail to hospital, she was then handcuffed to the bed rail during delivery.

“I couldn’t understand where they thought I was going in so much pain,” Smith says.

The women of WORTH successfully lobbied New York lawmakers for an anti-shackling bill for women giving birth. All but nine other states still restrain such prisoners.

WORTH also convinced the state legislature to amend the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA). While most children of incarcerated parents are placed with relatives, some go into foster care. Parental rights are legally terminated if parents don’t have contact with a child in foster care for 15 of the most recent 22 months. But some incarcerated parents are unable to contact their kids. The ASFA amendment allows parental rights to continue if imprisoned parents make good-faith efforts to maintain contact.

WORTH also challenges the war on drugs, which was responsible for more than a quarter of the female prison population in 2005. Black communities are disproportionately represented. The result? Fully 32 percent of women in custody are African American.

“We’re the under-caste,” Reynolds says. “Our work continues the civil rights movement.” —Diana Scholl

HEALTH AFTER PRISON

Transitioning from a life behind bars can stress your health. WORTH members offer these wellness tips for women leaving prison:

Relearn healthy eating. “We spend most of our years in prison eating processed food,” says Tina Reynolds of Women on the Rise Telling HerStory (WORTH). “Those foods don’t help your health.”

Go to realhealthmag.com for healthy eating tips. Get tested for HIV. A recent study shows some 9 percent of New York City’s new-to-jail population are HIV positive and almost 30 percent of them have gone undiagnosed.

For HIV testing locations and places to connect with care, go to directory.poz.com. Keep talking. “Women need to sit down and talk openly about what we need,” Mercedes Smith says. “We don’t want to talk about it in a group with men. I feel like I can talk with a bunch of sisters who listen.”—DS

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

What to try if you’re sick and tired of traditional healing methods

According to a National Institutes of Health survey, about 38 percent of adults use complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) to manage a health condition. Here’s a CAM primer.

CAM treatments fall into these fi ve categories: herbs and supplements, mind/body, manual, alternative healing and energy-based therapies. None involves meds or surgery, and all can soothe symptoms without harsh side effects, says Tanya Edwards, MD, of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

With proven success healing chronic pain, anxiety, fatigue and women’s health issues, CAM may be right for you. Interested? Visit Cleveland Clinic Center at ccf.org/integrative. —Cristina González

$33.9 billion

Amount U.S. adults spent on out-of-pocket complementary and alternative medicine visits. “Costs of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and Frequency of Visits to CAM Practitioners: United States, 2007,” the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, July 2009.

Oh, Happy Day!

This community-based intervention program can help depressed elderly blacks “beat the blues.”

fifteen million Americans suffer from depression. Among them, one group is especially under-diagnosed and under-treated: older African Americans.

The causes of depression among elderly black people are often the same issues that plague seniors of all races: physical challenges, chronic illnesses, loss of signifi cant loved ones, and increased dependence on others. But boilerplate methods for treating depression often don’t meet the needs of older African Americans who might also struggle to overcome stigma linked to depression and a cultural mistrust of mental health treatments.

Enter Beat the Blues, a fi ve-year program (to end in 2012) developed by sociologist Laura N. Gitlin, PhD, director of the Aging Intervention Center at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. The intervention provides seniors with depression education, stress-reduction techniques, care management, referrals and linkage to other support and services. Even more important, the innovative project teaches seniors that depression isn’t an unavoidable part of aging and that it’s a treatable mental health condition.

How, exactly, do these folks beat the blues? At a local Philadelphia senior center, for example, Gitlin motivates elderly African Americans to re-engage in activities and become more socially involved in their communities.

But beyond the initiative’s immediate mission lies an even loftier goal: to be a template for similar programs targeting diverse low-income, under-treated elderly populations. After all, you’re never too old to learn new tricks for improved mental health. — —Katie Karlson K

Cold Comfort ’Tis tissue season, but that doesn’t mean you have to catch a nasty cold. ld.

With temperatures dropping and chilly winds blowing, are people heading inside to get warm and... catch colds?

“In cooler weather, more people stay indoors where they are exposed to more viruses,” says Timothy Vavra, DO, an associate professor of medicine at Loyola University in Illinois.

What’s really uncool is that there are more than 200 subtypes of viruses that can trigger the chills, sneezes and aches of the common cold. But there’s an easy way to stay healthy. “Stay away from people who have a cold, and wash your hands,” Vavra says.

If you do catch a cold, expect up to 10 days of symptoms including a sore throat, congestion and cough. Just treat the symptoms with over-the-counter meds while the virus leaves your system, Vavra says.

And for year-round health: “Get a good night’s rest, exercise, eat a healthy diet and wash your hands often,” Vavra says. —CG —CG