A Rockland community member who has been involved with the issue said the two mohels did test positive for the virus. They both continue to perform MBP. “They are continuing to practice and use whatever safety practices they were using before, which is why they have never been sources of infection in the past,” the community member said, referring to the mohels disinfecting their mouths before performing MBP.
Above: MBP at a bris in 2012 (file photo)
The Forward has a report on Rockland County, New York's protocol for dealing with cases of neonatal herpes suspected to have been transmitted through metziztah b'peh (MBP), the direct mouth-to-bleeding-penis sucking done by haredi mohels after cutting off the baby's foreskin.
Herpes kills and maims infants, and there is a pretty well-documented record of syphilis and other diseases being transmitted through MBP (and also here), and large waves of babies dying.
But even though the records of these waves of death are even found in rabbinic texts, haredim deny MBP is dangerous and lie about its history.
The truly disturbing thing is that politicians –and, for that matter, the ever-lame Forward – ignore this record of death, even though it is widely available in English (thanks in large part to Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Sprecher). Instead, they enable haredi madness. And in return, politicians like those in Rockland County and New York City get haredi bloc votes – lots of them. And what are few dead and maimed kids compared to that?
At any rate, the reason what Rockland County is now doing doesn't make any logical sense and doesn't seem to be correct is likely because Rockland County – arguably one of the most corrupt places in the very corrupt State of New York – is cooking the books and/or the haredim are.
But even if what Rockland County is doing is 100% on the up-and-up, haredim don't appear to be keeping their end of the bargain:
…[E. Oscar Alleyne, director of public health planning in Rockland County, New York] said that ultra-Orthodox communal leaders agreed that as long as an investigation is active, the suspected mohel will not perform MBP.
If the mohel’s virus matches the infant’s virus, Alleyne said, the community has agreed to ban that mohel from performing MBP anywhere in the world for the rest of his life.
Alleyne said that he has no way of making sure that the community complies. But he added that his health department has made a “good-faith effort” to work with the community and that adopting “a position of mistrust defeats my whole goal in public health.”
If the mohel tests positive for herpes but the virus does not match the infant’s infection, Alleyne said, he recommends that the mohel stop performing MBP or use a sterile pipette to simulate oral suction, because the risk of exposing the infant to herpes “is high.” [emphasis added by FailedMessiah.com]
Alleyne would not say whether the two mohels in the 2014 cases tested positive for the herpes virus. But the Rockland community member who has been involved with the issue said the two mohels did test positive for the virus. They both continue to perform MBP.
“They are continuing to practice and use whatever safety practices they were using before, which is why they have never been sources of infection in the past,” the community member said, referring to the mohels disinfecting their mouths before performing MBP.…
"Disinfecting…mouths," by the way, is done with Listerine (or, sometimes 150 prof liquor. The only problem is, it doesn't really work, and the study haredim point to and misuse to support the practice was written by a dentist who was appalled it was being used to justify a practice, MBP, that is maiming and killing babies.
But haredim continue to insist MBP is safe, and blame any herpes infections that "may" have come from it on mohels who did not properly "sterilize" their mouths, rather than admit that the 'sterilization' doesn't really work.
And one last thing. When the Forward writes that "HSV-1 is harmless to adults," it is wrong. Two recent well-publicized studies have found that having herpes doubles the risk of a person later contracting Alzheimer's Disease. Harmless, my a@%.
Related Posts:
A History Of MBP Disease Transmission.