Oral "Blood Sucking" Circumcision Ritual
Two more babies have contracted herpes after ritual ultra-orthodox Jewish oral blood sucking circumcision in New York City
In New York City two more babies have been infected with herpes after going through a ritual oral "blood sucking" circumcision.
Apparently
this is not the first time that this has happened. The latest known
number of infants to be infected with the deadly virus is 13 since the
year 2000.
But the tragedy doesn't stop there, apparently two of the 13 infants suffered brain damage and two died from the virus.
The
practice by ultra-Orthodox Jews, called metzitzah b'peh, requires the
sucking of the baby's penis by a practitioner to clean the wound after a
circumcision has been performed.
One
of the latest children to suffer from the herpes virus had a fever and a
lesion on its testes came up seven days later, according to the
department of health. The baby boy tested positive for HSV-1 later on.
HSV-1 are cold sores, which usually show up on or around a person's
lips. This would explain why the practice of "blood sucking" is thought
to be dangerous.
Jay
Varma, deputy commissioner for disease control at the New York City
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said, "A herpes infection in a
newborn baby has the risk of leading to severe illness and death,"
Varma
went on to say, "The reason is that the baby doesn't have the same
fully developed immune system as an adult. Instead of staying in the
genital area, it extends throughout different organs in the body."
Varma said that time will tell whether the two boys will develop more serious complications.
The
parents of the two boys are not telling the name of the Rabi who
performed the ceremony in case the health department takes action
against him.
Dating
back almost 5,000 years the practice of oral suction has no way of
being performed safely according to the city's health department and the
ultra-Orthodox Jews are ignoring warnings about the practice.
Some
orthodox Jews stand behind the procedure although a more safe method
would be to use a sterile alternative device to clean the wound. They
say that they are practicing their religious freedom to perform the
operation the way it has been done for thousands of years.
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