Tattoos

            
            
             The tattoo has been a form of artistic expression for centuries. The earliest examples of tattooing are from the twelfth century in Egypt. "Tattooing was widely practiced in Micronesia, India, Burma, and Japan"(Brown 2). The word Tattoo was derived from the Polynesian peoples of Tahiti who call them Tattow. These people and their techniques were discovered by James Cook, who encountered them on his first journey around the world. Cook remarked, "both sexes paint their bodies Tattow as it is called in their language, this is done by inlaying the color of black under their skins in such a manner as to be indelible"(Shulka 1). As tattooing grows in popularity and becomes mainstream, so to does the risks and questions into the cleanliness and safety of the procedures. With out proper sterilization techniques the transmission of diseases such as Hepatitis B(HBV) and Hepatitis C(HCV) or even HIV could occur. When a tattoo artist uses the same needles and ink receptacles on multiple customers the transmission of possibly fatal diseases can occur. Some people have allergic reactions to the pigments used for tattoos that can also be dangerous. "As a means of preventing HBV, the American Public Health Association recommends that tattooing be discouraged"(Brown 2). A group at high risk for transmission of these diseases are college students. In order to learn if these young adults are aware of the risk and how these potentially fatal viruses are transmitted, a survey will be conducted at Shippensburg University. .
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             The subject population will consist mostly of college students attending Shippensburg University. The subjects were 40 Shippensburg University students, seventy percent men and thirty percent women. The experiment involved a twenty question survey to filled out by random individuals attending the university. The purpose of the survey was to find out 1.) if they in fact had a tattoo, 2.