New HIV Cases Linked to Unusual Spa Treatment

A microscopic view of the HIV virus on a lymphocyte, as seen in a file photo. AFP/Getty Images

The New Mexico Department of Health (DOH) warned people who received “vampire facials” from a now-out-of-business spa to get tested after an HIV case was confirmed in connection to the business.

Former clients of VIP Beauty Salon and Spa, located in Albuquerque, may have been exposed to HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C if they received Botox, a vampire facial, or other “injection-related service[s],” said the DOH in a news release. It came after a 2023 report about an HIV case being linked to a vampire facial that was done at the VIP Spa in 2018.

The department warned that those with an “indirect connection” to VIP Spa services should get tested for the blood-borne illnesses. It said that it has “identified additional HIV infections with direct or indirect connection with services provided” by the spa. “Following the 2023 identification of a new HIV case associated with the VIP Spa, DOH has reopened the investigation,” it also ssaid.

The VIP spa closed down in 2018 after a state inspection discovered unsafe practices that could spread infections like hepatitis B and C, as well as HIV, to clients, according to reports. Last year, the previous owner of the spa pleaded guilty to five felony counts of practicing medicine without a license, according to the DOH news release.

The owner, Maria Ramos de Ruiz, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison after she pleaded guilty last June, according to KRQE. She told local station KOB-4 that she was cooperating with officials and handed her client list to the state.

“If I have to stop doing it, or something that I have to change it, I will change it. Happily, I’ll do it,” Ms. Ruiz told the station in 2018.

Health officials are advising people who have received the service at the VIP Spa, including vampire or plasma-rich protein facials, to get tested for HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C. “More than 100 former clients were tested in 2018 and 2019 as part of the initial investigation,” said the release.

“It’s very important that we spread the word and remind people who received any kind of injection-related to services provided at the VIP Spa to come in for free and confidential testing,” Dr. Laura Parajon, deputy secretary for the state agency, said in the release.

Vampire facials, known as plasma-rich protein facials, entail injecting plasma into the skin on a customer’s face using a tool known as a micro-needling pen. The plasma generally comes from a person’s own blood, but infections may occur if micro-needling tips or syringes were reused—or if another patient’s blood was used.

The procedure gained viral popularity when Kim Kardashian posted an Instagram photo of herself getting one in 2013 at a different spa location. Ms. Kardashian has since voiced opposition to it and said it was too painful.

“A few years ago, I heard about a ‘vampire facial,’ and I was so intrigued,” she wrote several years ago, adding: “It was really rough and painful for me. It was honestly the most painful thing ever! It’s the one treatment that I'll never do again.”

A department spokesperson told NBC News that it’s unclear how HIV was transmitted via the procedure. They said that “genetic sequencing of HIV cases confirm a unique, highly related cluster of HIV infections among former VIP Spa clients without other known risk factors.”

Blood-borne pathogens such as HIV can be transmitted when infected bodily fluids enter the bloodstream of another person, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That can occur via the use of syringes, injection equipment, or needles that contain an infected individual’s blood, the agency warns.

HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, can lead to AIDS, or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, the most advanced stage of an HIV infection, officials say.

“For people living with HIV who are not diagnosed or taking [medication], signs of HIV-related illness may develop within 5 to 10 years, although it can be sooner,” according to the World Health Organization’s website. “The time between HIV transmission and an AIDS diagnosis is usually 10 to 15 years, but sometimes longer.”

The New Mexico state medical alert comes as the CDC last month confirmed that seven people in the United States have died from fungal meningitis in connection with separate medical procedures they had received in Mexico. Individuals contracted the fungal infections after getting procedures under epidural anesthesia in Matamoros, a city in Mexico’s Tamaulipas state, said the CDC.

The two clinics associated with the outbreak, River Side Surgical Center and Clinica K-3, were closed down in mid-May, the CDC said. The outbreak, too, was first reported in May, prompting the CDC to send out an alert.

“Anyone who had procedures under epidural anesthesia in these clinics from January 1 to May 13, 2023, is at risk for fungal meningitis,” the CDC said, referring to the rare condition.