The city Health Department on Wednesday “strongly” urged against an
ultra-Orthodox Jewish circumcision ritual that uses oral-genital suction
to remove the blood.
In September, a Brooklyn infant died after the procedure because he contracted herpes from the rabbi, or mohel , who performed it.
“There is no safe way to perform oral suction on any open wound in a
newborn,” city Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said in a statement.
The ritual leaves infants at risk of contracting herpes simplex virus type 1.
