A three-week-old infant, born to a Charedi family in Haifa, was brought to the Bnei Zion medical center in Haifa in serious condition. It is believed that the infant contracted the Herpes virus during his Bris Milah. The infection caused serious contamination in the young boy’s brain that caused seizures. Lab results showed that the infant was suffering from herpes.
Head of the Pediatrics Department in Bnei Zion, Professor Yitzchak Serugo said: “The infant has been hospitalized in serious condition. It appears that he has a brain infection that is causing prolonged seizures and a serious infection of his skin.”
The baby was rushed to the hospital by his parents who noticed the infection a number of days after his bris. During his time in the pediatrics department, the herpes virus was discovered in his spinal fluid, his brain, and on the lesions on his skin. The infant seized for the first three days after being hospitalized in spite of receiving anti-seizure medication.
According to Professor Serugo, the infant is receiving anti-viral treatment to remove the virus from his brain but will have to undergo continuing treatments for the next six months in order to eradicate the disease completely.
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel issued a statement in response to the incident: “The incident will be investigated by the committee that oversees mohalim on behalf of the Health Ministry and the Chief Rabbinate. All mohalim are instructed to tell the parents exactly how the bris will be performed and are responsible for disinfecting their mouths prior to performing the mitzvah.
From an initial investigation, it was found that the mohalim who conducted the bris has not conducted any others since this incident.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
But did the guy do metzitza b’peh? Last I heard, no ones doing metzitza bepeh during the pandemic. The die-heart metzitza people have been instructed by their poskim to use sponges (“moch”), and those that use tubes are still using tubes, maybe “tube and a mask” or something.
If the article said something about “the mohel has active herpes” or “is refusing to be tested” that would add something else to the story.
There is no such thing as “disinfecting the mouth”!
This mohel should be permanently suspended, and safe techniques of מציצה בפה need to be implemented
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רפואה שלימה
This sounds like a horrible tragedy. Are we sure that Hashem wants us to take the risk of MBP by direct contact with the mohel? Avraham performed his 3 circumcisions on himself, so there was no risk of infection from an outside source.
I don’t think it’s appropriate to report this news . It’s really irrelevant and only brings out the worst of people that are looking for an opportunity to go against the mesorah that we have all the years . Unfortunately there are lots of choilim that get sick and it’s not reported so reporting this brings to mind the intentions of reporting it .
The article makes no mention of the mohel or the mother being tested. Why automatically assume the mohel got the baby sick? Maybe the baby contracted herpes from his mother.
*head scratching emoji*
How do you know he got it at the bris? Out of all the cases reported in NY, NONE were proven to have been contracted at the bris.
And yes, huju, we are sure Hashem wants us to take not only this risk but far greater risks. For thousands of years the risk from the bris itself was far greater than the tiny risk we’re discussing now. It was a normal and accepted thing that every so often a baby would die from the bris, just as people would die from any surgery. You would undoubtedly have said that such a high risk is sakonas nefoshos and therefore no brisin should ever be performed. But the Torah required us to accept that risk and to accept the occasional loss of a baby as a necessary sacrifice for the mitzvah.
Thankfully now we no longer have to deal with that relatively high risk, and instead have the luxury of discussing a much smaller risk, one so small that it’s difficult to find proof that it has any practical effect. It’s difficult to find even one case that was undoubtedly caused by it. Kal vachomer that we must accept such a tiny risk and not override one of the three ESSENTIAL parts of the mitzvah.