The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office is investigating the death of a 2-week-old baby boy following a complication with his circumcision, according to the New York Post.
The baby died on Sept. 28 of 2011 at Maimonides Hospital after it contracted herpes during an ultra-Orthadox bris, in which a rabbi or mohel draws blood from the circumcised penis with his mouth.
The family of the baby who passed away, however, is not cooperating with authorities, according to the Daily News.
The virus, which can be contracted during the ceremony, called metzitzah b’peh, can cause babies to become seriously ill, suffer brain damage or die, according to the New York City Health Department.
“Oral herpes spreads easily through saliva, especially when saliva touches a cut or break in the skin, such as during metzitzah b’peh,” the health department says on it’s website. “Most people with oral herpes don’t know they are infected and don’t have symptoms.”
