ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Two former clients of a New Mexico spa that offered "vampire facials" have been diagnosed with HIV, state health officials said Monday.
According to the New Mexico Department of Health, both clients "received injection-related procedures" at the now-shuttered VIP Spa in Albuquerque between May and September of last year.
The spa, which shut down in September after a health inspection, offered "vampire facials," procedures in which plasma is extracted from a client's own blood, then injected into the patron's face, KRQE-TV reported.
Tests found that the clients recently were infected with the same strain of the virus, "increasing the likelihood that the two HIV infections may have resulted from a procedure at the VIP Spa," the news release said.
The treatment gained popularity in 2013 when reality TV star Kim Kardashian posted about it on Instagram.
>> See her 2013 Instagram post here
The state Health Department is offering free HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C testing for former clients of the spa. So far, more than 100 patrons have been tested, officials said.
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