It's a dark day for South Billyburg lovers of southern comfort food – dark as blackened catfish on a moonless Brooklyn night. Eater points out Peter Meehan's discovery that the beloved hole in the wall Pies 'n' Thighs, in the shadow of the Williamsburg bridge, will close tomorrow night. Party, or wake, to follow. more ›

Like the rest of the city yesterday, Brooklyn was recovering from an angry summer squall that shut down the subways and even had its own tornado. more ›

The city's Health Department is investigating three hepatitis C infection in people who "received intravenous (IV) anesthesia from the same NYC-based anesthesiologist." Oh, dear. The incidents occurred in August of last year, and it seems like the anesthesia was given in an out-patient (not a hospital) facility. The DOH is contacting about 4,500 patients who received IV anesthesia between December 1, 2003 and May 1, 2007 at the 10 outpatient facilities the doctor worked in to recommend they get tested. more ›

The city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is urging New Yorkers to be careful of ticks while spending time outdoors, especially since many are traveling to forested and wooded areas. The DOH's report has helpful preventative steps you can take, as well tips on how to remove ticks. And this FAQ on ticks has more info about the nasty buggers. more ›

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The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Restaurant Inspection division is on a tear. The DOH shut down three Pizza Hut restaurants owned by the franschisee who owns the rat-infested KFC-Taco Bell in Greenwich Village, the restaurant that launched a thousand shocked giggles and a million more eeewww's. And maybe there were a couple, "Oh, the rats look cute. Behind the glass." Franchisee ADF has eight restaurants in NYC that were allowed to remain open; the company claims it is reviewing its maintaintence procedures. more ›

The irony of it all! City Comptroller William Thompson says that the Department of Health response time for checking out rodent complaints generally lags. Though the Department of Health (and Mental Hygiene) has been improving its efforts, including starting the Rodent Control Initiative Program to rid particularly troubled areas of pests, the average time it takes the DOH to inspect a complaint is 30 days. Which isn't that good when we think about it, because the gestation period for a brown rat is just 21-23 days. The Comptroller also recommends better monitoring of rodent complaints, as many of them may be duplicated. The DOH agreed with the findings, but noted that rodent complaints had increased greatly. It's been said before, but why not have some super hungry cats prowl the streets? more ›

The city's Department of Health and Metnal Hygiene revealed 750,000 New Yorkers had "frequent mental distress" in 2005, which is measured at 13% of NYers living in the city. This is higher than the NY State or national average, which is about 10%. The DoH conducted a phone survey, and those who said that their mental health was "not good" for 14 or more days were classified as "frequently mentally distressed." According to other DoH studies, the poor and chronically unemployed tend to have worse mental health, so one big barrier to treatment is cost; another barrier is thinking that treatment doesn't really work. The DoH wants to emphasize the mental health issues like depression are serious and should be diagnosed, and now wants doctors to ask about depression when treating patients. This is interesting, because people are probably more willing to discuss depression these days, thanks to therapy being more and more common and acceptable (Monk, the "defective" detective, is really popular on USA and his visits with his psychiatrist are sometimes the best parts of the show), and still, NYers show a higher incidence - maybe those rush hour subway rides do have a deleterious effect on all of us! more ›

that causes tuberculosis is a very pesky bug that initially infects the lungs but can spread throughout the body and is notoriously difficult to get rid of (the typical antibiotic regimen is taken for 9 months). The DOH released a press statement yesterday highlighting these new findings - reporting that thanks to Directly Observed Therapy (where a City health monitor literally watches a TB patient take their meds) and the decrease in untreated AIDS cases, TB infection rates have decreased 5% since 2004. This news is reassuring and shows that we may at least break-even with the new diseases that keep us awake at night. more ›

. Well, that's much more boring, but still, some of those questions still apply. The Department of Health wants to raise awareness of how important condom usage is for the public, but of course the NY State Conservative party freaked out. A Condomania employee told the NY Times, "If this is actually going to happen, I think New Yorkers are absolutely going to love it. Of course, we live in a little liberal haven. But one group I think will really go for it are the tourists." 'Cause those tourists would love to show their friends how crazy us New Yorkers are! more ›

- If you have Tempo® , Tres Pasitos, Cockroach Chalk or any other pesticide that is improperly labeled, seal it in a plastic bag and discard it in a container away from children and pets.Just another reason to get some home repair 101 lessons! Do you have any good pest control tips? Gothamist noticed some bizarre non-cockroach bugs in the kitchen and bath areas, so we got some roach motels and that pretty much ended the problem - and we also try to vaccuum or DustBust whenever we can, because those suckers love hair (it's all protein). A friend mentioned that he returned from a trip and found a mouse that essentially spontaneously combusted on his kitchen floor. more ›

The NYC Department of Health issued a drinking water advisory after the yesterday's flooding may have affected NYC's Hillview reservoir. The DoH says that "higher than normal levels of particles" have been detected in the water supply. While that water has been diverted, they ask that "infants, the elderly, pregnant women and New Yorkers with conditions that compromise their immune systems– those with HIV/AIDS, especially those with CD4 counts less than 200; those with leukemia; and those who are post bone marrow transplantation - use either boiled or bottled water as a precaution for the next 24 hours (until noon Friday)." The NYC DoH has information on what you should do with your water in the meantime; it's unclear whether a Brita filter works, so perhaps boiling water is just the safest thing. [Via Marisa] more ›

The NYCDOH released today information about a Bronx man who injected himself with suspected contaminated heroin. He reportedly did not feel his typical euphoric state afterwards and presented to the hospital complaining of diffuse pain that progressively worsened into severe muscle spasms. He eventually was placed on a ventilator and his status remains unknown. The DOH believes that the heroin was possibly contaminated with strychnine or Clostridium tetani. Gothamist Health believes that street drugs are...well...bad. Who knows what kind of conditions in which these substances are manufactured? Obviously the FDA has no power to regulate potency, purity, and sterility in the process in even the cleanest meth labs out in Missouri. On second thought, neither does the FDA have the power to regulate any of the (air quotes) Dietary Supplements and Herbal Remedies (air quotes) we as Americans love to feed our bodies. Thanks to the Clinton Administration's failure to ensure that herbs sold to unsuspecting Americans receive strict regulation, we now must guess which grassy area of the Sheep Meadow is being sold to us as St. John's Wort (hopefully it's not the grass under the butt of that slimy dude that hit on me and my girl). So once again, please think long and hard about what you put in your body -- be it heroin or ginkgo biloba. And be smug knowing you might have to spend an arm and a leg on your herbs. The study referenced above found that the higher priced supplements also tended to be the most pure. By the way, if you are wondering what the hell that picture is, it's a painting by Sir Charles Bell of a soldier suffering muscle spasms while dying of tetanus. more ›