By robin brown

The News Journal

State health officials said Friday they ordered closure of an Elsmere tat­too shop, urging its em­ployees and customers to get tested for possible HIV and hepatitis infec­tion.

While the officials did not cite any known cases of such infections, they said close to 500 custom­ers may be at risk because the shop's staff failed to sterilize its equipment as required. The Division of Public Health ordered closure Thursday of The True Heart at 1600 Kirkwood Highway – near Hazel Av­enue, across from the Vet­erans Affairs Medical Center – after the body art shop was found to be in vi­olation of several state regulations. Managers of the shop could not be reached Fri­day night.

Customers and em­ployees who had body-art work done there from September through its Thursday shut-down are encouraged to get tested for communicable infec­tions, including the virus that causes AIDS, that can be transmitted from one person to another when equipment is not steril­ized properly between uses, said Jill Fredel, spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Social Ser­vices.

About 480 people are known to have gotten body art services during that time, the department said. Those who have been identified as being at risk also will be sent letters ex­plaining the risk and urg­ing them to seek out med­ical providers for testing, Fredel said. State residents also may contact the public health division's Office of Infectious Disease Epide­miology hotline, which is available 24 hours, at (888) 295-5156 with ques­tions about potential health risks, Fredel said.

Contact robin brown at (302) 324-2856 or rbrown@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @rbrowndelaware.