Infants Contract Herpes From Oral Suction During Jewish Circumcision

“Two New York City infants were diagnosed with herpes after undergoing a traditional Orthodox Jewish circumcision, NBC4 reports. According to the Health Department, both babies developed lesions on their genitals shortly after having the metzitzah b’peh, a practice in which the mohel — a person trained to perform the “covenant of circumcision” — uses a direct oral suction technique to swab blood from the infant’s penis, was performed on them. More than half of all adults carry the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) , according to Brian F. Leas, a research analyst in the Center for Evidence-based Practice at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. But the symptoms that present in those adults are oral lesions, or cold sores, and not life-threatening. In infants, however, HSV-1 can cause high fever and seizures — and in two cases since 1998, even death.” * Cenk Uygur () and Ana Kasparian () discuss. *Read