Crackdown on tattoo shops after death of four women

[hotchilli]

The regulations state that tattoos must first obtain a health-affected establishment licence from a district office. Premises are required to have first aid in place, evidence of proper disposal of infected items, including needles, and evidence that inks used are made for such purpose and are not harmful to health. They also need to display a clearly visible sign to advise customers, clear separation between the tattoo area and the tool disinfecting section from the rest of the shop and must obtain a signed letter of consent from each customer before undergoing the tattoo procedure.

 

So under what licence do motorcycle "tattoo artists" operate?

[Vacuum]

56 minutes ago, mr_lob said:

Yet again, wait for sh*t to happen, then have a knee-jerk reaction..

Never any preventative measures in the first place to protect the public....

"The public" should be able to think for themselves.

[maddox41]

More l to this then a dirty tattoo needle  and getting Hiv and all 4 passing away  hmmmm somthing  else us going  on  here.

[AsiaHand]

13 hours ago, CanuckThai said:

This is unbelievable (as in atrocious).  How does a tattoo business open and operate without the BiB sticking their nose in (rhetorical question).  Can you imagine how many tourists get a souvenir tattoo in BKK...holy crap

You should have said "How many STUPID tourist gets a tattoo in BKK".

[DieterWiehe]

13 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

Sounds like more than just tattoo needles involved

Maybe bigger Needles

[spidermike007]

How would they be able to trace the HIV chain back to this shop? And there are tens of thousands of these small shops, that probably operate with little to no regulation. No doubt, this could be a method of transfer. Do they use proper sterilization techniques? Is that monitored by the fools at the top? Unless cases like this are reported, do they care? 

[Media1]

4 people same shop same outcome. Did they all get tattooed at the same time ? Not enough info here. It's possible one girl was all ready positive and Somchai is a liar. He shared the needle on all 4

[Media1]

11 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

How would they be able to trace the HIV chain back to this shop? And there are tens of thousands of these small shops, that probably operate with little to no regulation. No doubt, this could be a method of transfer. Do they use proper sterilization techniques? Is that monitored by the fools at the top? Unless cases like this are reported, do they care? 

It's impossible to contract it once the virus is air born it dies. It must be direct blood contact. He has shared a needle the lazy Thai

[tifino]

Back to square one... they don't really have an inkling 

[dallen52]

She said Somchai had been told to suspend his service temporarily and to soon undergo training to keep all his tools clean before resuming the business. 

 

This could apply to many things here. 

[dallen52]

40 minutes ago, DieterWiehe said:

Maybe bigger Needles

Just a little prick.

Won't hurt.

[SoNowWhat]

A quick search and it seems transmission through tattooing is hypothetically possible but as of yet unsubstantiated by documented cases. There were two reports of prison made tatoos causing infection...somebody can check it maybe more in depth. But seems implausible that 4 people all were exposed to HIV in one sitting...we won't even deal with the fact that somebody would have to have been infectious...

[johncat1]

These 4 girls were Thai . I wonder how many tourists had tattoos then returned to their own countries and probably died there

[tifino]

3 minutes ago, johncat1 said:

These 4 girls were Thai . I wonder how many tourists had tattoos then returned to their own countries and probably died there

 

Out of sight

Out of mind 

 

[Briggsy]

Look at the area they worked in. Look at the jobs they might have done. There are a lot of civil servants and business owners who may frequent the kind of place they worked in.

 

The workplace will be owned and protected by powerful people. If the customers and workers have been spreading HIV and the owner let it go by sweeping it under the carpet but it has now got out and a lot of middle-class people are worried, then the authorities swing into action and create an alternative narrative to hide the truth.

[Jimbo2014]

14 hours ago, Enoon said:

 

I believe the notion that three died, close to (or actually?) simultaneously, since possibly becoming HIV positive in March, of "AIDS-related illnesses" is utter nonsense.

 

The purpose of the claim is to deflect scrutiny away from their place of work:

 

"Som and her three deceased friends worked together as food servers only."

 

She died of gastrointestinal problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Agreed - its virtually impossible for all three to have passed away from HIV within 6 months after primary infection.  Post primary infection the virus has a dormant period of between 6 to 16 years.  The ridiculous chance that all three would have died of primary infection is absurd.  They wouldn't have been aware of it for years after infection.  They may well have contracted HIV from the street vendor but would have been very unlikely to have died of it in that period and the evidence for contraction from a single source is scarce.  Further adding doubt is the fathers reluctance to pursue the matter.

[tandor]

16 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

Sounds like more than just tattoo needles involved

..agreed, more than likely Hepatitis 'C' if needle sharing/tattoo gun. HIV virus can take up to six weeks before it can be identified once contracted...I just wish these reports would wait until the testing has been done and the results then reported on. Both are notifiable diseases and can have serious personal implications..not to be treated lightly or confused with each other.

[tandor]

2 hours ago, Media1 said:

It's impossible to contract it once the virus is air born it dies. It must be direct blood contact. He has shared a needle the lazy Thai

..wrong..the HIV virus has been detected in a cadaver exhumed after three months. HIV can also be contracted via saliva.

 

[TSF]

The most disturbing part of this story is the complete lack of knowledge about HIV & AIDS with all these Thai officials and heads of public health departments. Obviously they never read any medical journals from other countries or  keep up with modern developments?

[Yann55]

17 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

 

The 50-year-old father of one of the women, aged 22, had earlier told reporters he suspected that his daughter might have contracted HIV from a dirty tattoo needle. His story is in itself contentious, however, because the death certificate he showed reporters states that she had been HIV-positive for more than one year.

 

This bit speaks volumes ...

 

Denial is alive and well in Thailand. HIV is still considered a shameful disease here, just like in the rest of the world, no matter what people say. I feel sorry for this father who has to deal with the loss of his daughter and the shame, because he didn't put that shame into his head, society did.

 

I remember the early 1980s in the West, when so many young men suddenly died of 'pneumonia'... 'a lung infection'... a 'long and painful disease' and no one dared pronounce the dreaded word. Is it easier today in the West ? Not much. Trying to figure out the psycho-social mechanism behind this massive, worldwide denial would require thinking out of the box, and to this day, very few people have done that.

 

 

[sawadee1947]

No risk no fun. I wonder when this stupid fashion of damaging your body will stop. 

[SoNowWhat]

45 minutes ago, tandor said:

..wrong..the HIV virus has been detected in a cadaver exhumed after three months. HIV can also be contracted via saliva.

 

Cite your sources for cadavers with viable HIV samples 3 years on?  As for being transmitted via saliva its hypothetical and a raft of conditions must be met.

[mr_lob]

4 hours ago, Vacuum said:

"The public" should be able to think for themselves.

5555 how many natives do you know who can do that?

[aguy30]

"The 50-year-old father of one of the women, told reporters he suspected that his daughter might have contracted HIV from a dirty tattoo needle."

I call BS on that.

That explanation is a lot easier and less embarrassing to give to family, friends and neighbors than other possible causes.

I believe there is a lot more to this story that hasn't been told.

How did the 4 girls know each other?

Did they do needle drugs?

Did they work in beer or go go bars?

Did they provide intimate services for the pleasure of men?

Did they practice unsafe sex?

[RichardColeman]

5 hours ago, SoNowWhat said:

This is a boldface lie. If your 'friends' got pneumonia it had nothing to do with an exposure to HIV in the previous 6 months. There is no 'virulent' HIV super strain that will cause death in 6-9 months, a complete fantasy. Read up and get the facts.

Really ? You do talk rubbish. I know it to be true, but maybe you can read this too if you like. As for Pneumonia- feel free to look up PCP pneumonia, this is a common pneumonia caused by lowering cd4 count on people with HIV/AIDS in lter stages.

Infection with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1) is nearly always fatal without treatment; however, the time from infection to death varies from less than one year to more than two decades [5,6]. Uncovering the factors behind this variation in HIV virulence (rate of disease progression) might provide important clues for the understanding and management of the disease.

(from US national library of medicine)

[Jonmarleesco]

Four from the same group, same day? That has to be of concern. 

[RichardColeman]

2 hours ago, tandor said:

HIV can also be contracted via saliva.

Only if you had an open sore in your mouth or an open wound and the person infected had blood in their saliva and were extremely contagious with high viral load. Chance ? probably 1 in a million

[Spidey]

49 minutes ago, aguy30 said:

"The 50-year-old father of one of the women, told reporters he suspected that his daughter might have contracted HIV from a dirty tattoo needle."

I call BS on that.

That explanation is a lot easier and less embarrassing to give to family, friends and neighbors than other possible causes.

I believe there is a lot more to this story that hasn't been told.

How did the 4 girls know each other?

Did they do needle drugs?

Did they work in beer or go go bars?

Did they provide intimate services for the pleasure of men?

Did they practice unsafe sex?

None of the above. They clearly didn't die of HIV/Aids.  All worked in the same retail food outlet. As others have said, probably a serious gastro intestinal infection such as dysentery. Easier to blame a tattooist than a retail food outlet.

[ttrd]

19 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

Sounds like more than just tattoo needles involved

Spot-On, It may as well have the shape as a needle and penetrate as a needle....

[fullcave]

5 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

How would they be able to trace the HIV chain back to this shop?

If you read the article it says all four girls received their tattoos at the same shop. Otherwise, there's no way they could have traced it back to the same shop. Also no way of telling how many tourists are infected each year as while on holiday as also no way of tracing it back to a tattoo shop. Most tattoo shops use new needles and freshly open the package in front of the customer. No trust involved.