Two babies stricken with herpes after ritual ultra-orthodox Jewish oral blood sucking circumcision in New York City

 

• Since 2000 13 known cases of herpes have been contracted from the religious practice


• Two deaths and two babies suffering brain damage have resulted


• Department of health warns there being no safe way to perform the ritual that dates back more than 5,000 years

The department of health says one of the latest infants to contract the virus developed a fever and a lesion on its scrotum, seven days after the procedure. The boy later tested positive for HSV-1. That virus differs from HSV-2, the genital herpes, which is contracted during sexual intercourse.

‘A herpes infection in a newborn baby has the risk of leading to severe illness and death,’ Jay Varma, deputy commissioner for disease control at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene told ABC News.

Two babies stricken with herpes after ritual ultra-orthodox Jewish oral blood sucking circumcision in New York City