Prophylactic neonatal surgery and infectious diseases.

Infections worldwide are the primary cause of morbidity and mortality today. The need for prevention is essential. Prophylactic surgery with the reduction of infectious disease has been available for many millennia, but its recognition has been questionably accepted. This article presents evidence of former times when circumcision was performed in the ancient Egyptian, Coptic and Ethiopian cultures, probably as a therapeutic measure to combat the ravages of schistosomal infectious symptomatology. How this health measure was converted to a religious rite and the confusion caused by this misunderstanding is fully explored. The association of an operative procedure as a religious ritual among Jews, and Christian Biblical ambiguity toward it, has further clouded the issue. Neonatal circumcision has been perpetuated in many societies and cultures, not because of the Jews and their Covenant of Circumcision, but because of its merit as a secular surgical prophylactic health measure. This article explores an interesting issue from its beginning to contemporary research and findings that justify the procedure as a viable option in maintaining and promoting quality genital health care for males of all ages.