SUPPORT should be provided for a national campaign to educate young people about the risks of tattooing and piercing, including blood-borne viruses and bacterial infections, a report concludes.

Almost 850 people were tested for hepatitis B and C, and HIV, after concerns were raised publicly in May last year, following several severe cases of a skin infection among clients of a tattoo and body piercing studio at 83 Commercial Street, Newport.

The cases all followed body piercings. Surgery was required, and in some cases reconstruction.

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board and Newport city council sought through what is known as a look-back exercise, to contact hundreds of people who had been clients of the studio - which had traded under the names Blue Voodoo, Sun Tattoo Studio and Flesh Wound - to offer them tests.

This followed the discovery of the bacteria that caused the infection cases in equipment at the premises, and it was considered that there was also a risk of blood-borne viruses being passed on.

Prohibition notices were placed on the premises, and poor hygiene practices were identified.

Now a report into that look-back exercise, known as Exercise Seren, has called for a national campaign, among 10 recommendations aimed generally at highlighting risks and strengthening regulatory powers over tattoo and body piercing studios.

Enforcement of hygiene measures is considered a key requirement, the report warning that currently "there are better safeguards in place with regard to buying a sandwich than having potentially harmful procedures such as tongue piercing."

Measures including a compulsory licensing system for tattooists and a ban on intimate piercing on under-16s, were included on the Public Health (Wales) Bill defeated in the Assembly last spring, amid controversy over restrictions on e-cigarette use in some public places.

The Bill will likely reappear in some form but it is not known when, or what proposals it will contain. The report also calls for:

* The compulsory keeping of detailed client lists - and consent forms with addresses and contact numbers - by tattoo and body piercing studios;

* Registration and licensing of individual tattooists and body piercers, based their understanding of skills, safeguarding legislation, and infection control, to a level similar to other forms of minor surgery;

* The revoking of licenses after upheld complaints, until retraining and re-accreditation is completed.

The report estimates the cost of Exercise Seren as being around £240,000. Of 678 clients of the studio deemed eligible for local testing at nurse-led clinics, a little more than 500 took up the offer, an uptake rate of 75 per cent.

After a public appeal last May, timed to coincide with the sending of letters offering tests to identified clients, a further 334 came forward. In all, 841 people had been tested by the beginning of March this year.