NYC: More Herpes Circumcision Cases Since de Blasio Lifted Metzitzah B'Peh Regulations

CDC, AAP, NYC Health Department

No one wants to come right out and say it, because doing so gets you labeled an "anti-Semite," but a particularly Jewish tradition, specifically the ultra-orthodox Jewish tradition of sucking a child's freshly circumcised penis to "cleanse the wound," is resulting in the spread of herpes in infants.

No one wants to actually write a law against this, because no governing body wants to be the first to write a law that regulates Jewish practice.

Actually, not too long ago, the NYC Health Department tried to instate a mandate to regulate the practice of metzitzah b'peh, otherwise known as "oral suction."

 Ultra-orthodox mohel sucking on a child's freshly circumcised penis

The mandate, which was supposed to be a measure to protect further boys from being infected, was pretty much toothless to begin with, because all it did was require parents to sign a consent form before allowing a mohel to perform metztizah b’peh on their sons. Furthermore, there was no real penalty or consequences for mohels if they didn't comply.

Despite the mandate being essentially impotent, ultra-orthodox rabbis were intolerant of what they saw as an "unconstitutional, shocking governmental overreach," and they managed to convince NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio to lift the mandate. In exchange for this, however, the ultra-orthodox community vowed to report the cases of herpes that resulted due to metzitzah b'peh, and to name the mohels and rabbis involved as part of a deal.

According to a recent report, there have been six cases of infants contracting herpes as a result of the traditional practice of oral suction, since Mayor de Blasio decided to lift the previously instated mandate.

Two of the mohels involved remain a mystery despite the ultra-orthodox community's agreement to help the city identify, and isolate any mohels responsible for infecting infants with herpes through oral suction.

At least on paper, all cases of neonatal herpes are required to be reported to the city's Health Department shortly after they occur. In response to each case, health officials were supposed to issue a “health alert” notifying medical practitioners in an effort to educate them about the potential hazards of the practice.

It looks like this too, like the policy before it, was mere gesture to keep people happy.

I think the problem here is obvious.

Nobody is willing to call a spade a spade for fear of looking like "the bad guy."

Meanwhile, healthy children are getting infected with herpes, in some cases, resulting in death.

It really must be asked; when deciding these things, whose interests do people really have at heart?

Related Posts:

BUSTED: Agudath Israel of America's Antics Revealed

NEW STUDY: Ultra-Orthodox Mohels Don't Give Babies Herpes

NEW YORK: Two More Herpes Babies, One With HIV

NEW YORK: Metzitzah: Two mohelim stopped after babies get herpes

NEW YORK: Yet Another Herpes Baby

Rabbis Delay NYC's Metzitzah B'Peh Regulations - Meanwhile, in Israel...

While PACE Holds a Hearing on Circumcision, Another Baby Contracts Herpes in NYC

Israel Ahead of New York in Recommending Against Metzitzah B'Peh

New York: Oral Mohel Tests Positive for Herpes

Herpes Circumcision Babies: Another One? Geez!

Mohels Spreading Herpes: New York Looks the Other Way

Circumcision Indicted in Yet Another Death: Rabbis and Mohels are "Upset"

Herpes Circumcision Babies: Another One? Geez!

And just when I thought I'd heard enough about mohels giving babies herpes, another report of a poor Jewish baby with herpes arises.

"Across the board, the infection rate for circumcisions is less than one half of one percent... The baby could have gotten herpes from a relative or someone in the Hospital, or many other people... You can't say for sure it was the circumcision."~Philip Sherman, "Mohel to the Stars"

I've written enough.

Will you do something about this, New York?

Please?

Mohels Spreading Herpes: New York Looks the Other Way

In a recent post, I talk about the second reported case, where a child dies as a result of contracting herpes from a mohel through an obscure circumcision ritual that is practiced only by ultra-orthodox Jews. The ritual in question is called "metzitzah b'peh", and it involves the mohel putting his mouth on the wounded genitals of a newly circumcised Jewish baby boy to suck blood from it.

Well, as I read more and more into it, the plot just keeps getting thicker and thicker.

The last time I heard, Yitzchok Fischer of New York was found to have infected three newborns with herpes via metzitzah b'peh, one of whom died. He was basically pardoned by Health Commissioner of the day, Thomas R. Frieden, and no further action was to be done regarding getting Orthodox leaders to abandon metzitzah b'peh. Frieden's open letter to the Jewish community can be read here.

To prevent the transmission of herpes to other babies, the New York State Department of Health adopted a medical protocol in 2006, requiring ultra-orthodox mohels to wash their mouths with Listerine before performing the procedure.

Well, according to another recent report, the practice was rescinded less than a year later. According to The Jewish Week, Fischer was involved in the infection of yet *another* infant, who was admitted to a hospital with clinical diagnosis of neonatal herpes via oral suction in May, 2007. Based on that, the health department ordered Fischer to stop practicing metzitzah b’peh.

In my last post regarding this matter, I wondered as to the identity of the mohel responsible, and why it was not yet known. Authorities were investigating and the families involved weren't being to forthcoming as to the identity of the person responsible. I wondered if it was this self-same Fischer person whose identity people were trying to protect. Well, it looks like might have actually had reason to suspect. Apparently, despite his order from the health department to stop practicing the obscure oral suction ritual, Fischer is still performing it.

Only Two Out of Many
As I read more, I come to find out that while only these two cases have made the news, Haaretz reports that countless other deaths have not. And these are just the deaths; reports keep coming in of babies being admitted to hospitals for herpes infections with lesions around their genitals. You want to know why you hardly hear of complications due to circumcision? Well, this is why.

What is frustrating is that despite all the evidence piling up, mohels like Philip Sherman have the nerve to act singled out and "upset" that health authorities are doing their jobs.

"This is part of the anti-religious, anti-circumcision trend," Sherman blasts. 

"Across the board, the infection rate for circumcisions is less than one half of one percent... The baby could have gotten herpes from a relative or someone in the Hospital, or many other people... You can't say for sure it was the circumcision."

How long are practitioners of a deadly ritual going to be allowed to get away with denial?

All I've got to say is, the degree to which New York authorities are tip-toeing around the eggshells is getting to be quite ridiculous.

Children are DYING, and they're more concerned about "upsetting" the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community?

How long until they realize that this "tradition" is costing children their LIVES?

Sometimes traditions have to be abandoned.

This is a tradition whose time has come.

May one day this world be a safe place for children of both sexes, free of life-endangering "traditions."