Trendy, unproven “vampire facials” performed at an unlicensed spa in New Mexico left at least three women with HIV infections. This marks the first time that cosmetic procedures have been associated with an HIV outbreak, according to a detailed report of the outbreak investigation published today.
Ars reported on the cluster last year when state health officials announced they were still identifying cases linked to the spa despite it being shut down in September 2018. But today’s investigation report offers more insight into the unprecedented outbreak, which linked five people with HIV infections to the spa and spurred investigators to contact and test nearly 200 other spa clients. The report appears in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The investigation began when a woman between the ages of 40 and 50 turned up positive on a rapid HIV test taken while she was traveling abroad in the summer of 2018. She had a stage 1 acute infection. It was a result that was as dumbfounding as it was likely distressing. The woman had no clear risk factors for acquiring the infection: no injection drug use, no blood transfusions, and her current and only recent sexual partner tested negative. But, she did report getting a vampire facial in the spring of 2018 at a spa in Albuquerque called VIP Spa.
This is exactly why we need strong consumer protections:
There was? It was an illegal shop doing it that was promptly shut down when discovered. The problem wasn’t the procedure. It was that it was being done completely unsanitary, without proper equipment, and with little record keeping.
I’m saying this is exactly why we need it. I didn’t mean we don’t have it. There are people trying to take away these protections, saying things like, “the market will handle consumer safety.”
I haven’t seen any of these people. Where are the people saying the market will handle consumer safety?
Conservatives in the USA push against consumer safety measures. These are just a couple from the first page results for “republicans consumer safety” on DDG:
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/13/house-passes-bill-block-gas-stove-ban-00100492
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/29/republicans-consumer-product-safety-commission/
If you directly ask them why we shouldn’t have strong consumer safety regulations, they say it’s because it stifles innovation and that the market will correct for unsafe products and services.
Does that mean we can get back the hotdog cooker from the 1970’s that electrocuted the weenies?
Yes but a few people will profit less. We should prioritize their feelings.
/s