ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Health authorities have confirmed the first documented cases of HIV transmitted through cosmetic needles, all stemming from a New Mexico clinic that provided “vampire facials” to its clients.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the find Thursday in its latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

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According to CDC officials, the New Mexico Department of Health was notified in the summer of 2018 that a woman with no known risk factors had been diagnosed with HIV.

The woman reported that she had been exposed to needles at a spa during cosmetic platelet-rich plasma microneedling facials, commonly known as “vampire facials.”

The facials are just one of several popular cosmetic procedures that require the use of needles, according to The Associated Press. Practitioners also use needles to deliver Botox injections to smooth out wrinkles, as well as fillers to plump up lips.

“Vampire facials” involve drawing a client’s own blood, separating the components and using tiny needles to inject the plasma into the client’s face, the AP reported.

The investigation into the unlicensed VIP Spa determined that the spa reused needles intended for one-time use. The facility also failed to maintain proper client records, which made the probe more difficult for investigators.

The owner of the spa, which shut down after the CDC investigation began, pleaded guilty to criminal charges in 2022, according to the AP. Maria de Lourdes Ramos de Ruiz admitted to five felony counts of practicing medicine without a license.

KRQE in Albuquerque reported that Ramos de Ruiz, whose scam included forged medical certificates and a fake University of Phoenix degree, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. State prison records show Ramos de Ruiz remains behind bars at Springer Women’s Correctional Facility.

“An investigation of the spa’s services began in summer 2018, and NMDOH and CDC identified four former spa clients, and one sexual partner of a spa client, all of whom received HIV infection diagnoses during 2018–2023, despite low reported behavioral risks associated with HIV acquisition,” the CDC report states.

When state licensing regulators visited the spa, they found multiple health code violations, the AP reported. The violations included unwrapped needles, improper disposal of blood and unlabeled syringes found next to food in a refrigerator, authorities said.

Click here to read the entire CDC report on the VIP Spa HIV cases.

Analysis of the virus in the infected patients determined that their individual HIV strains were highly similar to one another, the federal agency reported. The similarity was an indication that their infections came from the same source.

CDC investigators pored over the spa’s meager records for the period from spring 2018, when the initial patient received her procedure, to fall 2018, when the spa shut its doors. They compiled and cross-referenced names and telephone numbers from the spa’s client consent forms, handwritten appointment records and telephone contacts to create a list of potentially affected clients.

They determined that 59 clients were at risk of exposure, including 20 who received the facials in question, according to the report.

By cross-referencing that list with New Mexico’s HIV registry, they identified a spa client who had received an HIV diagnosis in 2012.

Analysis of that client’s virus strain helped confirm that the other five patients had HIV cases related to the spa and its treatments.

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