Alberta Health Services closes piercing shop; urges clients to get tested

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The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION

Alberta Health Services closes piercing shop; urges clients to get tested

By: The Canadian Press

Posted: 08/9/2011 4:10 PM

COLEMAN, Alta. - Health officials have closed a piercing shop in southwestern

Alberta and are urging clients to get tested for contagious diseases.

The Alberta Health Services website says the Victor Proctor piercing operation

in didn't properly sterilize its equipment.

That means anyone who received piercings there may have been infected with the

viruses that cause hepatitis B and C or AIDS.

Simple blood tests can determine whether an individual has been infected.

Alberta Health Services says any procedure where the skin is broken requires

equipment to be cleaned, disinfected and sterilized — or used only once.

The shutdown does not apply to Tommy Gun Tattoos which shared the same building

as the piercing operation.