Page 16 - IAV Digital Magazine #574

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
New HIV Case Linked To ‘Vampire Facial’ At Shuttered New Mexico Spa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SrOb_p5GCE
By Jamie Gumbrecht, CNN
CNN - A new HIV case has been linked to a “vampire facial” at an Albuquerque spa that closed in 2018, the New Mexico Department of Health said this week.
The only HIV risk that
the 2023 patient reported was a “vam- pire facial” at VIP Beauty Salon and Spa in 2018. Two cases of HIV were previously linked to injection-related pro- cedures at the spa in 2019, the department said.
The Department of
Health said it has reopened its investi- gation into the spa and is recommending former clients who received injection- related services – including vampire facials or Botox – be tested for HIV, hepati- tis B and hepatitis C.
As part of the earlier
investigation, the state health depart- ment provided testing to more than 100 spa clients. Former clients should be retested even if they previous- ly tested negative, the department said on Wednesday.
“It’s very important that we spread the word and remind peo- ple who received any kind of injection-relat- ed to services provid- ed at the VIP Spa to come in for free and confidential testing,” said Dr. Laura Parajon, Department of Health deputy sec- retary, said in a news release.
The spa closed in 2018 after a state inspection found unsafe practices that could spread blood- borne infections to clients.
As of July 5, the Department of Health
identified additional HIV infections “with direct or indirect con- nection with services provided at the VIP Spa,” it said, although it did not specify how many.
In June 2022, the owner of the spa pleaded guilty to five felony counts of prac- ticing medicine with- out a license, the Department of Health said this week.
A vampire facial, also known as a plasma- rich protein facial, involves injecting plasma into the skin on your face using a tool called a micro- needling pen. That plasma typically comes from your own blood. Infections could occur if micro- needling tips or syringes were reused, or if another patient’s blood was used to perform the facial, for example.
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