A New York City infant contracted neonatal herpes last month as a result of an Orthodox Jewish procedure known as metzitzah b'peh (MBP) that involves orally sucking the blood off a newborn's penis after circumcision, according to the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). The ritual is referred to as "snip and suck," a play on the words "nip and tuck." Check out the government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) article, "Neonatal Herpes Simplex Virus Infection Following Jewish Ritual Circumcisions that Included Direct Orogenital Suction — New York City, 2000–2011."
Instead of using a sterile pipette to draw off any blood after circumcision, the person doing the circumcision uses his lips to draw off blood from the wound. And since 80 percent of the USA population is infected with cold sores, also known as facial herpes, the person may have unknowingly transmitted the herpes virus to the eight-day old infant's genitals by putting his mouth (and saliva) on the wound.
The ritual is known as metzitzah b'peh. The problem is the ritual is not hygienic because it can pass herpes virus to the baby because a sterile pipette isn't used to draw off the blood. When putting one's mouth on a baby's wound of any type or on any area of the skin, the herpes virus can be passed from one person to the next, since it's estimated that 80 percent of the USA population has oral herpes, such as cold sores that may or may not break out as a sore on the lips or in the mouth at certain times, mouth herpes, canker sores, or herpes virus in the saliva.
A mouth is so full of bacteria and viruses, that it doesn't belong on an open wound of a neonatal infant a few day's old whose immune system isn't strong enough yet -- or anyone else. Herpes is highly contagious to children or adults.
The individual performing this ritual many times may not even be aware that he is harboring the herpes virus, which is highly contagious. The way most babies catch the herpes virus is when kissed by a relative or other person who is not aware that cold sores are contagious, even when there are no symptoms of a cold sore about to appear. See, "New York, Orthodox Jews Clash Over Circumcision: NPR."
Other religions also practice circumcision at varying ages of the baby or young child
Whether a baby or child contracts herpes during or after circumcision depends on who touches and whether those persons have had herpes at any time in their life. Herpes is forever. It stays hidden and breaks out every few years for some people in various places such as cold sores, in the mouth, on the chest and back or arms, or as genital herpes, and is highly contagious, even when there is no symptoms.
Most people may not realize that putting one's mouth on an infant to kiss the baby can transmit the herpes virus to any open wound, pore, or scratch on a baby or child. Facial herpes, usually experienced as cold sores are full of the herpes virus, and can be transmitted to others easily by a kiss, touch, or even sharing a glass, or any other contact between lips and another person's skin, whether there is an open wound on the skin or not.
One of the most common ways children catch herpes from parents or relatives is by being kissed or touched by someone carrying the herpes virus, such as a cold sore, just before symptoms appear or a tingling sensation on the lips or in the mouth signals an outbreak of herpes, such as a cold sore is forthcoming. Herpes can also involve sores inside the mouth.
See, the April 5, 2013 Huffington Post news article, "Infant Contracts Herpes," and "Two More Infants Contract Herpes Through Ultra-Religious Ritual Circumcision." In New York City's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, two more infants have been infected with herpes after a ritual circumcision.
The ultra-religious ritual is not one that all Orthodox Jews engage in. Once again - fundamentalists are shedding an unfairly bad light on an entire religion. More » Two More Infants Contract Herpes Through Ultra-Religious Circumcision Ritual is a post from Mommyish - Parenting Imperfect.
The New York City Bureau of Sexually Transmitted Disease Control issued an April 3, 2013 alert. Herpes transmission from a person's lips or mouth to an infant's genitals during circumcision or a kiss marks the 13th such case in New York City since 2000. Two of those infants noted in the alert died, (including one last year), and two others have suffered brain damage as a result, according to a department alert from January. Circumcision is practiced in several religions. See, The Assault on Circumcision in America . Also check out, "Circumcision in Islam, "Abraham's way" - Joe Bradford."
What are the symptoms of herpes in an infant recently circumcised?
The infant may develop a fever a few days after being circumcised. The vesicular lesions develop before or after the fever starts. How herpes usually is transmitted to an infant during circumcision is that a ritual circumciser, for example, in orthodox Judaism called a mohel, performs the circumcision and then follows it up by orally sucking the blood from the wound.
See the news article on the herpes case in the newspaper, The Jewish Daily Forward. Also see, Circumcision - New York Presbyterian Hospital. Some parents have their sons circumcised a day after the birth of the infant in a hospital setting and by a pediatrician without any religious ceremony. Others don't circumcise because they don't want to mutilate a newborn. And still others look for research studies showing what benefits circumcision might have on health when the baby is grown.
The World Health Organization estimated in 2007 that 75 percent of non-Jewish, non-Muslim males in America were circumcised. See, WHO. The big picture is that herpes is transmitted by putting one's mouth on another's genitals, if one person has facial/mouth herpes and may not know it. The herpes virus passes from one person to another after a wound such as circumcision or only from one person's skin touching another person's skin in an area where there are herpes viruses just below the skin, such as on the lips or inside the mouth.
The New York City Board of Health has recently passed a number of regulations concerning the controversial oral suction procedure, including requiring cases of herpes in infants younger than 60 days to be reported to the city, according to the Huffington Post news article, , "Infant Contracts Herpes." The Board of Health in New York City voted seven months ago to require parents to sign a consent form before a mohel can perform metzitzah b'peh, also known as "snip and suck."
On one hand there's no law that infringes on anyone's religious freedom. On the other, there's the problem of transmitting herpes viruses that can kill an infant, but in the adult only result in a cold sore or facial herpes outbreaks every few years. The news articles reporting the latest case of herpes acquired via circumcision noted that the parents of the infant in this latest case didn't sign a consent form.
For further information, see the article in the newspaper, The Jewish Daily Forward. Most people who want their babies circumcised in a hospital soon after birth or during the ritual that specifies circumcising eight days after birth, have the ritual performed in a hospital where a sterile pipette is used, and no skin touches the baby's wound.
See the site, "The Rabbinical Council of America." Also see the article, "Judge Rules Circumcision Consent Law Is Legal." Check out the article, "NY newborn contracts herpes from circumcision rite." Some people circumcise a baby if there are medical reasons why the foreskin can't be pulled back.
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