There have been six cases of infant herpes cases believed to be tied to a controversial ultra-Orthodox Jewish circumcision practice since the de Blasio administration announced a new policy with the community, city health officials admitted Wednesday.
The unidentified baby was rushed to the hospital 15 days after undergoing the ancient ritual, known as metzitzah b'peh, which involves cleaning the circumcision wound by oral suction.
That's when the newborn developed a rash on his genitals, buttocks, inner thigh and ankle, according to a city Health Dept. alert issued to all medical personnel Wednesday morning.
“We literally heard about this case at some point in the afternoon yesterday,” de Blasio told reporters at an unrelated event. “We're right now in that process of identifying the mohel, and we expect full cooperation from the community.”
Religious circumcision ritual leaves 2 Brooklyn infants with herpes
The health alert notes that there were three similar cases in 2015 and two in 2016. That's on par with the average number of cases reported before the mayor touted a new policy with community leaders, according to a former city health official familiar with the issue.
The names of the rabbis involved in the cases — except for two instances — remain a mystery despite the community’s vow to share that information as part of a deal with the de Blasio administration in February 2015.
“For the immediate case, we’re talking to the family today,” said Health Dept. spokesman Chris Miller.
As part of the agreement touted by city health officials, Jewish leaders promised to help the city identify, and isolate, any mohel who genetic testing showed was responsible for the infection.
Jewish criticism sees NYC circumcision ritual rule nixed
All cases of neonatal herpes are required to be reported to the city's Health Dept. shortly after they occur. In response to each case, health officials used to issue a “health alert” notifying medical practitioners in an effort to educate them about the potential hazards of the practice.
Those notifications had stopped during the de Blasio administration until Wednesday.
Mayor de Blasio said he just heard about these cases and that the city is "in the process of identifying the mohel" linked to the six new cases of infant herpes found in NYC.
(Noah Berger/AP)City Hall repeatedly declined to disclose the number of new herpes cases when asked for that data by the Daily News last December.
The controversy over the old tradition surfaced after health officials during the Bloomberg administration concluded the practice was infecting, and in some rare cases killing, a small number of babies who had recently been circumcised by a mohel.
De Blasio administration scraps circumcision ritual rules
But many community members ignored the Bloomberg administration's consent form edict.
As a candidate de Blasio voiced his dissatisfaction with the regulation and vowed to “change the policy and find a way to protect all children but also respect religious tradition…and come in Day 1 to City Hall with a new policy that is fair.”
His top aide, Avi Fink, negotiated the deal with Rabbi David Zwiebel and Rabbi David Niederman, a political powerbroker in the Satmar Hasidic community.
Federal investigators probing de Blasio’s campaign fund-raising recently grilled Niederman regarding his ties with Fink, according to sources. Niederman declined calls seeking comment.
Meanwhile, many in the orthodox Jewish community support de Blasio, in part because of the circumcision deal, according to Ezra Friedlander, who runs a public relations firm with many clients Hasidic clients.
"It was government at its best (on) how to bridge health concerns with tradition," Friedlander said.
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