Subject: Tattoo Needle Is Linked To AIDS Virus in Canada
Date: Published: 10/31/85 38 lines
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

   Tattoo Needle Is Linked
   To AIDS Virus in Canada

   MONTREAL -- Doctors here believe a Canadian man may be the
first individual to have contracted the AIDS virus through a
contaminated tattoo needle.
   Dr. Norbert Gilmore, an AIDS specialist at Royal Victoria
Hospital, said that the man, whose identity wasn't released,
is suffering from AIDS-related complex, a malady whose
symptoms include weight loss and swollen lymph glands and
which is sometimes a precursor to AIDS. About 10% to 15% of
patients with AIDS-related complex come down with AIDS
itself.
   AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is a disease
in which a virus infects and suppresses the immune system,
leaving the victim vulnerable to fatal infections.
   Dr. Gilmore said that the patient, who is now being
treated at another Canadian hospital, was found not to be a
member of groups considered to have a high risk of
contracting the AIDS virus.  He didn't report any history of
homosexual contact, wasn't an intravenous drug user and
hadn't received any blood transfusions.
   A spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control in
Atlanta said that no AIDS cases involving contaminated tattoo
needles have been reported to the center, but that such an
occurrence would fall into the category of "needlestick
injuries," such as those caused by the sharing of needles by
drug users.

(This article is made available here by Dow Jones Co. for the 
personal and non-commercial use of callers to this bbs, in the 
hope that it will be of some help to those who are suffering 
from the disease and others who are seeking to help them.)