14 DAY TRIAL // A recent study carried out by researchers at the Center for Digestive Care in Ypsilanti, Michigan showed that most college students are completely unaware of hepatitis C risks which may result from trading and sharing jewelry. Taking into account the fact that college students do not only share earrings, but also other jewelry they use for tongue, belly and other body-piercing places, they are very likely to become infected and develop type C diabetes.
Researchers explained that HCV risk is considerably increased by this sharing-jewelery practice of college students, especially when it comes to body-piercings in regions of the body with more blood vessels. Sharing earrings does not present such a high risk of HCV because the ear is mostly made of cartilage and does not present so many blood vessels which heal very slowly and may be easily infected.
Presenting their results at the American College of Gastroenterology meeting taking place in Las Vegas, Julie R. Hollberg, M.D. and her team at the Center for Digestive Care said that 55% of the 610 college students in their study had at least one region of the body pierced besides their ears and of these, 60% admitted sharing body-piercing jewelry with their friends and colleagues.
Also, out of the 610 college students in the study, 27% reported being unaware of the fact that HCV (Hepatitis C virus) can be passed on through intravenous drug abuse, while 77% of them did not know that the virus can be transmitted through intranasal cocaine use.
Thomas Shehab, MD, of St. Joseph Mercy Health System concluded: "We were surprised by the proportion of undergraduates who were inadvertently putting themselves at risk for hepatitis C. In addition to well documented traditional risk factors, we are concerned about students who may be putting themselves at risk for this serious disease with even something as simple as sharing pierced body jewelry. The majority of the group had been to the physician for a health care maintenance examination in the last three years, but during that visit, most had never been asked about behaviors that put them at risk for serious infection."