The London-area health unit is warning customers at a south-end nail salon that they may have been exposed to a blood-borne infection.

Clients at Cali Nails in White Oaks Mall should consult their doctor to discuss the potential of exposure to blood-born infections and consider testing for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, the Middlesex-London Health Unit said Wednesday.

The warning comes after a man who contracted hepatitis B went to the salon for a manicure-pedicure, said Mary Lou Albanese, the health unit’s manager of the infectious disease control team.

The salon had a history of repeated infection-control infractions, Albanese said.

Past violations include not properly cleaning and disinfecting foot baths after each client, not disposing of single-use tools after each client and not ensuring reusable instruments are properly disinfected, according to inspection information posted on the health unit’s website.

“We don’t want panic, it’s just really precautionary,” Albanese said of Wednesday’s alert. “It’s public health’s responsibility to notify the general public about this, so that’s what we are doing.”

The cautionary advisory applies to clients who visited the salon between May 4, 2017, and Jan. 5, 2018.

Cali Nails owner Randy Tran said he didn’t have any advance knowledge of the health unit’s warning.

Tran said he asked the health officials to provide details about the infected person’s visit to his salon, but was refused.

“Why don’t you show me the person’s receipt? But they didn’t give me that,” Tran said.

Insufficient infection-prevention and control practices at nail salons, barber shops, spas and tattoo parlours can result in potential transmissions of blood-borne infections and skin infections, though the risk is generally low, and it’s often impossible to pinpoint whether an infection resulted from a procedure, the health unit said.

“This is not new information, and this is not unique to this salon,” Albanese said of Cali Nails.

Asked why the health unit suggested testing for HIV, the immune system-attacking virus that can cause AIDS, Albanese said the purpose is to get people to have the conversation with their health-care providers.

“We want people to keep a level head and go to their health-care practitioner . . . and hopefully have that conversation,” she said.

The health unit’s inspections at London businesses are available online at healthunit.com/inspections.

dcarruthers@postmedia.com

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