KEY POINTS:
Australia's 478 China-bound athletes have been warned not to get celebratory tattoos during next year's Beijing Olympics as they risk contracting cancer-causing hepatitis B.
Australian team doctor Peter Baquie said athletes should wait until returning to Australia before getting any ink - which is considered almost a rite of passage by Olympic team members once they complete their Olympic competition.
Scores of Games athletes head to a tattooist after the end of their competition to get a permanent souvenir of the Olympic rings underneath the city and year, often on their hip or ankle.
But Baquie told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper athletes ran the risk of contracting hepatitis B by getting tattoos or any body piercing in China because there was a 20 per cent carriage rate in the country.
He also warned there was a high incidence of HIV AIDS among its sex workers.
He said athletes should be aware that even if they had been immunised against hepatitis B there was no guarantee they would be safe.
"People need to be aware of the dangers, people go and get the rings tattooed and it is an issue .... it would be lovely if they got the rings back home," he said.
All members of the Australian team have been offered free immunisation against hepatitis A and B, typhoid and other diseases.
Australian Paralympic doctor Larissa Trease said the key to keeping healthy could be summed up with: "Wash your hands and drink bottled water."
She said there had been a recent case of apparent human-to-human transmission of the bird flu and said athletes should avoid market areas where live birds were kept or areas where there were pigeons or ducks or bird faeces.
She said tap water in China was unsafe to drink and other international athletes had been told not to eat fish, salads, soft poached eggs, rare meats, hamburgers, stuffed meats and pastries that contained cream.
Trease said that outside of the athletes' village "it is buyer beware". As an example, athletes needed to be careful about buying citrus fruits or melons because vendors might have injected them with water to increase their weight.
- NZPA
