HIV Outbreak Linked to Albuquerque Spa’s Controversial Vampire Facials

7

In a chilling medical revelation, three women from Albuquerque, New Mexico, found themselves diagnosed with HIV, believed to be contracted during a cosmetic procedure they underwent—an extraordinary situation that federal health officials assert is the first of its kind. The controversial “vampire facial”, notorious for its use of hypodermic needles, was at the heart of this unfolding medical scandal.

This deeply unsettling sequence of events, which unfolded at an unlicensed medical spa, came under the clinical eye of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was reported in the CDC’s recent Morbidity and Mortality Report that an extended investigation from 2018 till 2023 found a shocking lapse in health safety practices. The derelict spa stood accused of reusing disposable equipment principally intended for singular use.


The narrative of HIV transmission due to contaminated blood via unhygienic injections is not a novelty. However, the CDC’s report marked a grim milestone, citing this as the inaugural documentation of likely infections stemming from cosmetic treatments.

The world of cosmetic treatments, known to employ an array of cutting-edge tools to achieve desired results – from banishing wrinkles with Botox to plumping lips with fillers – found itself under scrutiny. One such procedure, known colloquially as a “vampire facial”, or the scientifically named platelet-rich plasma microneedling procedure, coaxes the youthfulness back into the skin by isolating specific components from the client’s own blood and injecting it back into the face with minute needles.

The initial realization of something amiss came when the New Mexico Department of Health was informed in the summer of 2018 of a middle-aged woman testing positive for HIV without having identifiable risk factors. The lady in question had undergone needle exposure at the questionable clinic the preceding spring.

The murky clinic was compelled to close its doors by fall 2018 in the wake of the ensuing investigation and subsequent prosecutions for practicing medicine without a legitimate license. The CDC report issued in the aftermath underscored the critical importance of enforcing stringent infection control practices at establishments offering cosmetic services that involve the use of needles.

The report also stressed the value of maintaining meticulous records at such facilities. The investigation had been hampered by deficient record-keeping at the clinic, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive client database as an exigency, should the occasion to contact clients in the future arise.