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wikify Herpes
|accessdate=2012-04-25
|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061120073118/http://www.thejewishweek.com/top/editletcontent.php3?artid=4591
}}</ref> along with letters from Dr. Wertheimer, the chief doctor of the Viennese General Hospital. It relates the story that a mohel (who was suspected of transmitting [[herpes ]] via metzizah to infants) was checked several times and never found to have signs of the disease and that a ban was requested because of the "possibility of future infections".<ref>{{REFbook
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-vbWAAAAMAAJ&q=divine+law+in+human+hands
|title=Divine Law in Human Hands
}}</ref> ''metzitzah b'peh'' should still be performed.
The practice of ''metzitzah b'peh'' was alleged to pose a serious risk in the transfer of [[Herpes simplex virus|herpes]] from [[mohel]]im to eight Israeli infants, one of whom suffered brain damage.<ref name="Gesundheit"/><ref>{{REFweb
|title=Rare Circumcision Ritual Carries Herpes Risk
|publisher=My.webmd.com
|accessdate=2012-04-25
|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050920215004/http://my.webmd.com/content/article/91/101352.htm?lastselectedguid=%7B5FE84E90-BC77-4056-A91C-9531713CA348%7D
}}</ref> When three New York City infants contracted [[herpes ]] after ''metzizah b'peh'' by one ''mohel'' and one of them died, New York authorities took out a restraining order against the ''mohel'' requiring use of a sterile glass tube, or pipette.<ref name="Hartog"/><ref name="NewmanNYT">{{REFnews
|first=Andy
|last=Newman
|publisher=The Jewish Week
|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061120073353/http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=11412
}}</ref> Dr. Thomas Frieden, the Health Commissioner of New York City, wrote, "There exists no reasonable doubt that ‘metzitzah b'peh’ can and has caused neonatal [[herpes ]] infection....The Health Department recommends that infants being circumcised not undergo metzitzah b'peh."<ref>{{REFnews
|first=Debra
|last=Nussbaum Cohen
|quote=The meetings have been extremely helpful to me in understanding the importance of metzizah b'peh to the continuity of Jewish ritual practice, how the procedure is performed, and how we might allow the practice of metzizah b'peh to continue while still meeting the Department of Health's responsibility to protect the public health. I want to reiterate that the welfare of the children of your community is our common goal and that it is not our intent to prohibit metzizah b'peh after circumcision, rather our intent is to suggest measures that would reduce the risk of harm, if there is any, for future circumcisions where metzizah b'peh is the customary procedure and the possibility of an infected mohel may not be ruled out. I know that successful solutions can and will be based on our mutual trust and cooperation.
|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070218224659/http://www.health.state.ny.us/diseases/communicable/herpes/newborns/2006-05-08_letter_to_rabbis.htm
}}</ref> Later in New York City in 2012 a 2-week-old baby died of [[herpes ]] because of metzitzah b'peh.<ref>{{REFweb
|title=Baby Dies of Herpes in Ritual Circumcision By Orthodox Jews
|author=Susan Donaldson James
}}</ref>
In three medical papers done in Israel, Canada, and the US, oral suction following circumcision was suggested as a cause in 11 cases of neonatal [[herpes]].<ref name="Gesundheit"/><ref>{{REFjournal
|last=Rubin
|first=L.G.
|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021093342/http://www.ima.org.il/imaj/ar03dec-14.pdf
|format=PDF
}}</ref> Researchers noted that prior to 1997, neonatal [[herpes ]] reports in Israel were rare, and that the late incidences were correlated with the mothers carrying the virus themselves.<ref name="Gesundheit"/> Rabbi Doctor [[Mordechai Halperin]] implicates the "better hygiene and living conditions that prevail among the younger generation", which lowered to 60% the rate of young Israeli Chareidi mothers who carry the virus. He explains that an "absence of antibodies in the mothers’ blood means that their newborn sons received no such antibodies through the placenta, and therefore are vulnerable to infection by HSV-1."<ref name="Halperin">{{REFjournal
|first=Mordechai
|last=Halperin