Several cases of herpes simplex I infection were found in infants circumscised by a single mohel (the figure in Jewish practice that performs the bris, or circumscision ceremony) in New York City.
Under Jewish law, the mohel is required to draw blood from the circumcision site, ostensibly to remove what the Old Testament refers to as "impurities" and what we might interpret today as germs. The thought, back then, was that a flow of blood away from the circumcision site would carry these potentially dangerous entities away from the baby. But the traditional way to do this, a practice called Metzizah bi peh, calls for the mohel to use his mouth and suck out the blood.
In adults, this herpes virus is fairly benign, the majority of those 40 and over already have it, and it may not show any symptoms as to whether it is contagious. But in infants, it can cause a systemic infection that is difficult to treat and can include death or brain damage. In the case above, one of the infants did in fact die; another suffered brain damage, with the rest recovering. The mohel in question has been persuaded to take a break from his calling for now.
But given the seriousness of this case--rare, a few babies out of the thousands circumscised in New York, but deadly--the New York public health department would like to regulate circumscisions better. But the bris usually happens in the parents' home, not a hospital. And although most mohels now use a glass tube to suck out the blood without actual contact with the baby's skin, the ultra-Orthodox do not agree with this practice--and the ultra-Orthodox have a powerful voice in New York politics. So it really is a quandry as to how to handle this issue, which involves public health and traditional religious practices.
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