Wellbeing authorities in New Mexico have recognized new instances of HIV connected to polluted “vampire facials” performed at a fake marvel facility that was closed down quite a while back. Officials are urging anyone who went to the clinic to get tested for blood-borne pathogens now that their investigation has been reopened.
Vampire facials are a well known corrective operation wherein an individual’s own blood is turned in a rotator to isolate proteins and platelets, and the subsequent platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is re-infused into the face through microneedles or miniature scraped spots. Despite the lack of evidence to support the claims, the procedure is said to rejuvenate the skin. Nevertheless, a number of well-being-minded celebrities have endorsed and promoted it, including Kim Kardashian, who later regretted it because it was painful, and Gwyneth Paltrow, who had it performed on screen for an episode of her Goop Netflix series.
In 2018, health officials in New Mexico received a tip that facials at the VIP Beauty Salon and Spa in Albuquerque might have been linked to an infection. “Identified practices that could potentially spread blood-borne infections, such as HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C to clients,” the health department and the Barbers and Cosmetologists Board of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department discovered during a subsequent inspection of the salon. The spa’s customers received free testing from the health department.
In April 2019, the wellbeing division noticed that more than 100 clients had been tried, and two HIV contaminations were connected to the facility. Furthermore, the proprietor of VIP Spa entered a guilty plea to five counts of practicing medicine without a license in June 2022.
Reopened investigation Officials were under the impression that the case was over. However, earlier this year, they learned of a newly discovered HIV infection that was associated with the clinic.
Health officials published a report last month stating, “Genetic sequencing of cases linked to the VIP Spa confirm that they are a unique, highly related cluster of HIV infections among people without other risk factors or any relationship to each other.”
After that, the health department reopened its investigation and provided additional free tests. As of July 5, the division noticed that it had found at this point more new HIV cases connected to the center.
“We really must get the message out and remind individuals who got any sort of infusion connected with administrations gave at the celebrity Spa to come in free of charge and private testing,” Dr. Laura Parajon, representative secretary for the wellbeing office, said in an explanation.
The department noted that the first case discovered in 2023 involved a person who had never been tested, indicating that their 2018 efforts to contact and inform all former clients were unsuccessful. Yet, in the most recent notification, the wellbeing office encouraged clients who have proactively tried negative to get retested.
There are four principal kinds of HIV tests that each have their own lengthy timespan outline in which a positive outcome can initially be recognized after a known openness (“window period”). In the event that somebody is tried inside a test’s window period, they’re encouraged to get tried once more after the window period has finished to affirm the negative test. The acute stage of HIV usually occurs between two and four weeks after infection. Some individuals may exhibit flu-like symptoms during this acute stage, while others may exhibit no symptoms at all. The chronic stage comes next, which often goes untreated for ten or more years before progressing to AIDS, the third and most severe stage. However, the infection can be managed and complications prevented by current antiretroviral treatments.
