Baby's Herpes Death Linked to Circumcision

A two-week-old baby who died last year from a circumcision ritual contracted a deadly case of herpes from the ceremony, reports the New York Daily News. The city medical examiner said that the cause of death was “disseminated herpes simplex virus Type 1, complicating ritual circumcision with oral suction.” While it is not known who performed that circumcision, there have been several cases in New York in recent years of babies contracting herpes from the ultra-Orthodox ritual known as metzizah b’peh, when blood is removed from the baby's wound by the rabbi's or mohel's mouth. (More circumcision stories.)