Researcher Warns of Acupuncture Risks

(March 19) -- A new report on the global health risks of acupuncture might make some devotees of those pain-relieving pokes and prods think twice -- or at least take a second look at their practitioner's office.

Microbiologists from the University of Hong Kong examined reported cases of infections since the 1970s, including hepatitis B and C and HIV, among acupuncture clients worldwide. In an editorial in this week's British Medical Journal, they warned that known cases were "the tip of the iceberg" and called on regulatory boards to enforce stricter training and cleanliness among practitioners.

"To prevent infections transmitted by acupuncture, infection control measures should be implemented, such as use of disposable needles, skin disinfection procedures and aseptic techniques," researcher Patrick Woo says in the editorial.

Once a practice exclusive to China, acupuncture has gained worldwide popularity. It's based on the belief that the body's energy flow can be manipulated by inserting needles into specific body regions, or meridians, to treat everything from sports injuries to serious diseases. Even the U.S. military recently approved battlefield acupuncture for pain relief.

In the U.S., visits to acupuncturists tripled, to 17.6 million, between 1997 and 2007, according to a federal report on alternative medicine.

The editorial cites five outbreaks of hepatitis B linked directly to dirty acupuncture needles and notes several HIV-positive patients whose only risk factor was participation in acupuncture. The scientists say most problems go unreported because patients might not be aware that acupuncture was the culprit in their illness.

And there's even an entirely new acupuncture-specific ailment: acupuncture mycobacteriosis. It's the result of infected needles, inserted centimeters into the skin, causing bacterial outbreaks that lead to abscesses and ulcers. Most patients recover, but 5 percent to 10 percent suffer life-threatening symptoms like organ failure, flesh-eating disease or paralysis.

Because the illness has a long incubation, patients might not be able to connect their symptoms to acupuncture.

Of course, acupuncture isn't necessarily risky. But the report's authors want to see initiatives that legislate training, accreditation and cleanliness among practitioners.

In the U.S., acupuncture is legislated on a state-by-state basis, but the Food and Drug Administration requires one-use needles. The National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine notes that risks are relatively rare, but acknowledges that "complications have resulted from inadequate sterilization of needles and from improper delivery of treatments."

Acupuncture adherents swear by the practice, but risky or not, there's still the question of whether it even works. Despite years of study, the alternative medicine center calls results of acupuncture investigations "hard to interpret."