Teens contract drug-resistant infection from tattoos

Four Anne Arundel County teenagers have contracted a nasty, drug-resistant infection from a tattoo artist working in a Pasadena basement - and now county health officials are warning kids and adults alike about the dangers of body art.

Two of the teens were hospitalized, but all four now are recovering from the infection, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, said Frances B. Phillips, the county health officer. She declined to release the teens' names, citing federal medical privacy laws.

MRSA is similar to staph infections common in hospitals, nursing homes and other health-care settings. But MRSA infections...