Tainted Tattoo Ink Infects 19 In Rochester

Bill Herring rolls up his sleeve to show off his new tattoo, only not for the reason you might expect. Embedded in the gray and black design are two pink marks, the results of an biopsy, required after he developed a nasty skin infection. “It was just bumps. Bumps all over the skin where the ink was applied,” he says. “It didn’t hurt, it didn’t itch, it was just bumps." Those bumps turned out to be a potentially dangerous bacteria infection resistant to antibiotics. For several months this year, Rochester was at the center of a nationwide mystery involving the skin illness in people who recently received tattoos.