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People born with heart defects who pierce their ears or other body parts risk
developing life-threatening heart valve infections. Doctors from the Mayo Clinic
in Rochester, Minnesota, studied 445 patients with congenital heart defects.
Those with piercings had a one in four chance of developing endocarditis—a
dangerous infection of the heart valves—presumably caused by bacteria that
initially infected the piercing. Carole Warnes, who led the team, says that if
such patients insist on body piercings, these should be accompanied by
antibiotics.