An infant contracted herpes after having a ritual circumcision. According to GlobalGrind reported on Apr 7, 2013, “A New York City infant contracted herpes last month as a result of an Orthodox Jewish procedure known as metzitzah b'peh (MBP) which involves orally sucking the blood off a newborn's penis after circumcision. Since 2000, this makes for the 13th case in New York City. According to a department alert from January, two of those infants died, and two others have suffered brain damage as a result, according to a department alert from January.”
HuffPost wrote, “The infant, whose parents were not named, came down with a fever a week after being circumcised and developed vesicular lesions the next day, the email stated. The city did not disclose in which hospital the infant was born. The department email said the ritual circumciser, known as a mohel, likely transmitted the virus to the newborn child. The department said it won't sue the mohel, whose name was kept secret by the infant's parents, according to the Jewish Daily Forward. 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.”
The Haredim have been practicing metzitzah b'peh (MBP) for centuries. It is however, practiced by very few Jews in general. According to HuffPost Metzitzah b'peh is uncommon even among those Jews who opt for religious circumcision of their sons. Following the circumcision, the mohel takes a sip of wine and quickly removes the blood from the penis through the wine, using his mouth. He then spits the mixture out. Instituted in Talmudic times, long before the germ theory of disease was understood, metzitzah b'peh was once thought to disinfect the wound.
HuffPost goes on to say, “The practice of Jewish circumcision has evolved over time. Most observant Jews have adopted a modified version of metzitzah, in which blood is removed from the circumcision site with a sterile pipette rather than through oral contact. Another example is the fact that over the last 25 years, many mohels who are also physicians have started administering local anesthesia. This is in response to current data establishing that infants feel pain acutely, as measured by heart rate, respiratory rate and cortisol levels. In both examples, circumcision practice has been modified to accommodate what we've learned.”
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