Tattoo rashes linked to ink

Tainted supplies caused stubborn bacterial infections

Tattoos are getting some bad ink, literally.

An outbreak of uncommon bacterial skin infections in upstate New York in late 2011 has been traced to a tainted batch of ink used in a tattoo parlor, researchers report August 22 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The infections required potent antibiotics to vanquish the culprit, Mycobacterium chelonae, a bacterium in the same family as those that cause tuberculosis and leprosy.