A costly covenant: ritual circumcision and urinary tract infection.

December 6th, 2010 Posted in Medical

Please take the delivery room - circumcision survey:
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I copied this article from the pubmed abstract page. The authors demonstrate a link between routine neonatal circumcision and UTIs.

Isr Med Assoc J. 2010 May;12(5):262-5.

A costly covenant: ritual circumcision and urinary tract infection.

Toker O, Schwartz S, Segal G, Godovitch N, Schlesinger Y, Raveh D.

Department of Pediatrics, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, affiliated with Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel.

Comment in:

• Isr Med Assoc J. 2010 May;12(5):303-4.

 

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Ritual circumcision in neonates may cause a urinary tract infection within 2 weeks of the procedure.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the prevalence of urinary tract infection among Jewish male circumcised neonates < or = 28 days old) evaluated for fever in the emergency room.

METHODS: All available medical records of neonates presenting to the pediatric emergency room for evaluation of fever over a 10 year period were reviewed. Data included gender, ethnic background, age (in days) on presentation to the emergency room, age (in days) when circumcision was performed (in males > or = 8 days of age), and results of urine, blood and cerebrospinal fluid cultures. Families of males older than 8 days of age who had a UTI were contacted by telephone to verify the circumcision status when the infant presented to the ER, to ascertain whether the circumcision had been performed ritually by a mohel* or by a physician, and, if not recorded in the chart, to verify the day of life on which circumcision was performed.

RESULTS: Among neonates older than 8 days of age, 60 (24.7%) of the 243 febrile Jewish males had a UTI, as compared to 12 (8.4%) of 143 females (P < 0.0001). In 39 of 54 male neonates (72%) for whom circumcision was performed ritually on the eighth day of life, UTI occurred within 9 days of the circumcision. For females, there was no such clustering of UTI cases in the second week of life, nor during any other time period.

CONCLUSIONS: Febrile male neonates who have undergone ritual circumcision have a high prevalence of UTI and must be evaluated and treated accordingly.

PMID: 20929075 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]Free Article

 

MeSH Terms

 

 

MeSH Terms:

• Causality
• Ceremonial Behavior*
• Circumcision, Male/adverse effects*
• Circumcision, Male/methods
• Circumcision, Male/statistics & numerical data*
• Female
• Fever/epidemiology
• Humans
• Infant, Newborn
• Israel
• Jews/statistics & numerical data*
• Male
• Postoperative Complications/epidemiology*
• Prevalence
• Urinary Tract Infections/epidemiology*
• Urinary Tract Infections/etiology

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