Two Infants Contract Herpes Following Circumcision; One Tests Positive for HIV
Photo Credit: Army Medicine
The two boys, members of the city’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, were circumcised in the Jewish ritual known as metzitzah b’peh, in which the practitioner, or mohel, places his mouth around the baby’s penis to “cleanse” the wound and suck away blood, Medical Daily reported.
A week after the ceremony, one of the boys developed a fever and a lesion on his scrotum, according to the health department.
In 2000, the city began requiring parents to sign consent forms acknowledging the health risks of this practice following a string of incidents that included 13 cases of herpes, with two resulting in brain damage and two others in death, according to Medical Daily.
None of the parents of the two boys signed these forms, said Jay Varma, deputy commissioner for disease control at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. One of the mothers, who was not identified, denied receiving a consent form to sign, Jewish Week reported.
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