The Jerusalem Post: “Infant hospitalized with severe herpes infection after circumcision involving direct oral suction.”

Appalling. An extract:

“The use of direct oral suction during circumcision has been the subject of medical and halachic (Jewish legal) debate for years. The Health Ministry has repeatedly warned against the practice and instructed mohels to use a glass tube or designated sterile device to avoid direct contact between the mohel’s mouth and the infant.

At the same time, the Interministerial Oversight Committee of Mohalim has stressed that mohels are required to inform parents of the risks associated with direct oral suction and obtain their explicit consent. Still, in some communities, the practice appears to continue despite the known dangers, sometimes without parents fully understanding the possible health consequences.

In 2012, the issue made international headlines after health authorities in New York documented a series of confirmed neonatal herpes cases linked to ritual circumcisions involving direct oral suction. In Israel, Schneider Children’s Medical Center also publicized similar cases, including two infants hospitalized in 2016 after contracting herpes in the circumcision area.”

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