According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 44 tattoo customers in total with clusters of 33 in Ohio, 4 in Kentucky and 7 in Vermont, had reported the skin infection from the bacteria in 2004 and 2005.
The infections have been traced to 13 unlicensed tattoo artists, as per an article in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant bacterium, weakens the body's immune system and destroys tissues. The skin infections thus caused can be transmitted from person to person by contact with draining sores, or through contact with contaminated items or surfaces.
MRSA is generally known to cause mild skin infections, but in some cases may lead to pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and a painful, flesh-destroying condition called necrotizing fasciitis.
According to a report by the AP, the tattoo artists in states of Ohio, Kentucky and Vermont require a license for the skin-piercing art. But as per the CDC's report all the affected customers went to unlicensed artists.
The investigation found that instead of doing the work in authorized tattoo parlors, the body art was done in the homes of the tattooists or the recipients, or even in public places such as a park.
The tattooists sometimes did not use masks or gloves, did not properly disinfect skin and did not properly clean the equipment, Dr. Mysheika LeMaile-Williams, a CDC infectious disease investigator who co-authored the report said.
One Ohio tattooist used a homemade tattoo gun made from a computer ink-jet cartridge and guitar strings, she added.
Williams said that three of the Ohio tattooists had recently been jailed and the four of the affected patients who had hospitalized had recovered.
Williams cautioned that customers sometimes seek out unlicensed tattooists because their services are less expensive, or because they are younger than 18 and cannot go to a licensed tattooist without parental consent.
Several of the infected patients were under 18, she added.
Dr. Kate Heilpern, an Atlanta emergency room physician and Emory University researcher, who has studied MRSA, said that she wasn't surprised by the cases.
The superbug is appearing in locker rooms, homes and many other unsterile places where people are in skin-to-skin contact.
"We are still riding a big wave of this bacterial infection and I really don't see any end in sight," she said.
The cases in the three states are, however, the first documented cases in tattoo-related MRSA infections, said Williams.
