The Australian Medical Association (AMA) says tourists who get tattoos in Bali take the same risks as having unprotected sex.

On Friday the West Australian Health Department said one of the state's residents had contracted HIV after getting a tattoo in the Indonesian tourist hotspot.

Western Australia's AMA president David Mountain says people should not get tattoos when overseas.

"I think it's high-risk behaviour and it's really the same as having sex overseas without protection," he said.

Dr Mountain says he is surprised it has not happened before.

"The regulations there are not the same as in Australia," he said.

"People need to not park their brain when they go to a third-world country, and realise that health regulations are not going to be the same in Bali as here."

The age and sex of the victim have not been released, nor has the location of the parlour where the tattoo was obtained.

The Commonwealth is expected to update health and traveller warnings following the incident which is believed to be the first ever case of HIV contraction from a tattoo.

WA Health director of communicable disease control Paul Armstrong says people who have recently been tattooed in Bali should seriously consider having a blood test.

"Anybody who has had a tattoo in Bali or a body piercing in Bali should consider the information that's come out and talk to their doctor about getting tested for HIV," he said.

Dr Armstrong says the Commonwealth will also alert Indonesian authorities.

"They'll be in contact with the Indonesians to look at what happened at that parlour and to hopefully take some action to prevent that happening again," he said.