Last year, the Health Department unveiled its free NYC Condoms on Valentine's Day. For this year's Valentine's Day, not only will volunteers from the Health Department be distributing condoms again, there's a new packaging and a new ad campaign with the tag "Get Some." Don't worry - the condom is the same lubricated Lifestyles latex condom as before. The Health Department gave out 36 million NYC Condoms last year and Assistant Commissioner for HIV......

The Health Department revealed that cases of the flu have increased 19% since November. Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden said urged New Yorkers who haven't gotten a flu shot yet to do so. In November, there was an average of 4,900 flu-related hospital visits; last week, there were 5,832. It's most critical that adults 50 and over (especially those over 65), children between 6 months and 5 years, people with chronic medical conditions, health care......

From rats ruling a West Village KFC/Taco Bell to Governor Spitzer's downward spiral, from a shock jock's questionable words to an up-and-down year for the MTA (and its riders), we bring up the biggest stories of 2007. Midtown Steam Pipe Explosion On a July afternoon, an 83-year-old steam pipe near Grand Central Station exploded, ripping apart the street. Debris, including asbestos, filled the air and covered people as they ran from the scene. One woman......

On Friday, dozens of birds fell out of the sky and died on a street in the Great Kills section of Staten Island. Residents grew concerned as, the Staten Island Advance reported, birds "flopped and twitched...as they breathed their last" (video here). One resident said the birds were flying "as if they were drunk" before falling to the ground. Residents were advised to stay in their homes as the fire department, police and as well......

Last week, the I.S. 211 in Canarsie told parents that 7th grader Omar Rivera had died from the antibiotic-resistant staph infection MRSA. Now his mother is suing the city and Kings County Hospital for $25 million over the mistreatment of the 12-year-old. On October 11, Aileen Rivera took him to a clinic to examine a pus-filled sores on his back. The Flatlands clinic gave him Motrin and a mild antibiotic, but since it didn't clear......

As more cases of staph infections are being reported (a Newark public school security guard has MRSA, leading the school to be disinfected), parents are growing increasingly concerned about how schools are responding to the epidemic. Yesterday, school officials held a meeting at IS 211 in Brooklyn, the school Omar Rivera Jr. attended before dying from MRSA two weeks ago, to explain how it is dealing with the potentially deadly disease. The Post reports the......

After weeks of media attention about the rising incidence of people, especially students, being afflicted by an antibiotic-resistant strain of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, more commonly known as a staph infection, MRSA has struck NYC. The Health Department confirmed that Omar Rivera Jr., a 7th grader at I.S. 411 in Canarsie, Brooklyn, died of MRSA on October 14. When the school found out about the child's death last week, it contacted the DOH to investigate.......

Far from just being unhealthy for you, eating a hamburger these days just might kill you. The Health Department is asking New Yorkers to toss any ground beef burgers manufactured by the Topps company because of possible contamination with a particularly dangerous strain of E.coli. A bacteria normally found populating the guts of cows and the humans that love them, the 0157:H7 variety of E. coli is associated with more than just the nuisance of......

The Health Department released preliminary data that shows HIV infections increasing among gay men under age 30. Specifically, for men-who-have-sex- with-other-men (MSM) under 30, HIV cases have increased by 33% and account for 44% of all new diagnoses (in 2001, they accounted for 31% of all new cases). The number of older MSM with new diagnoses of HIV is declining, but the number of new HIV cases for MSM between ages 13 and 19 has......

The Health Department announced that a 41-year-old Brooklyn woman had tested positive for the West Nile virus. This is the first reported case of West Nile in the city this year. The woman was hospitalized on August 25th, after suffering symptoms like fever, headache, fatigue, weakness and muscle pain. Though it is possible she was exposed to West Nile outside of the city since she did travel in the weeks preceding her illness, the Health......

If you live in Washington Heights, you'll want to stay indoors tonight. The Health Department will be spraying pesticide as a preventive bid against the West Nile virus. The Post reports that the spraying (of Anvil 10+10) will be at Trinity Cemetery between 8PM and 6AM. While there are no reported cases of people with the West Nile virus yet, the Health Department has been spraying parts of Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island this......

Better make sure you've got your insect repellent ready: The Department of Health has found mosquitoes with West Nile virus in Flushing. No New York City residents have been been diagnosed with West Nile yet and Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden wants it to stay that way. He said, “West Nile virus has arrived in New York City, so protect yourself and your family. Wear insect repellent when you go outside and get rid of......

amNewYork features State Senator Jeff Klein's letter grading idea for restaurants on its cover. In the wake of the media capturing rats running around a KFC-Taco Bell that had just passed a health inspection, the Health Department has been under fire. Klein thinks seeing a letter grade and having it posted prominently for prospective diners to see would be much more helpful than the current system. Klein said, ""Having a letter grade posted for all......

Even a week later, there's breaking news about the rats-at-the- Greenwich-Village-fast- food-joint story. The Health Department announced the health inspector who passed the restaurant the day before the rat show has been suspended. Not only that, the health department is :- Reviewing all the restaurants the inspector visited since joining last summer and may re-inspect them - Revisiting all restaurants owned by the franchise operator - Going to provide "training specific to assessment of rodent......

You know what's awesome in high definition TV? Seeing images of huge, fat rats run around a fast food restaurant in the Village! WABC, WCBS, and WNBC descended on a Taco Bell-KFC location on Sixth Avenue at 4th Street. The restaurant had been open until 11PM last night, and someone called in a tip when they saw rats running around. While people have seen rats in restaurants, they probably haven't seen something that looked......

Yesterday the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene held a public hearing about banning trans fats in city restaurants. Overall, most people said it was a good thing, with health and diet experts noting the "historic nature of these hearings" and that 22% of heart-related deaths are due to trans fats consumption. However, there was opposition - and not just from fast food restaurants. The Food Bank for New York City pointed out that......

There's a movement afoot to change the city's health code to better reflect dog and dog owner habits. The Health Department will have a public forum and comment period to discuss off-leash hours in parks. Right now, while the Parks Department allows dogs to go leash-less between 9PM and 9AM, the city's health code doesn't allow that, a strange happening that's gotten attention since Queens civic group, the Juniper Park Civic Association, to sue......

Fast food may get a lot less tasty a little less unhealthy. Yesterday, our fair city's Health Department proposed measures to decrease the use of artificial trans fat at restaurants that can't seem to do it for themselves. The new law would limit restaurants to 0.5 gram of trans fat per serving. How much fat is that exactly? Well, a typical McDonald's hamburger contains 0.5 gm of TF and a yummy, yummy Big Mac contains......

On last night's WPIX News At Ten, there was the most amazing lead story. The news team touted it as an "exclusive": The AMC Bay Plaza in the Bronx is infested with rats. When Julinda Lee took her children to see a movie, rats were all over them for their food. In fact, one rat crawled up her 6 year old son's leg and grabbed his snack cake! (The son super-adorably told the reporter, "I......

Check it out: The Health Department says that one in four New York City households has had mice or rats - and that 30% of households have roaches. Blech! The DoH's big point is that many residents are using various pesticides and repellants that may be illegal and may contaminate other surfaces - such as cooking areas - which may lead poisonings. Unsurprisingly, residents with lower incomes report higher rates of infestation, probably because their......

The city's Department of Health and Mental Hygience and the Center for Disease Control says that a nurse with "infectious tuberculosis" exposed around 1,500 patients to the TB. And what's more, she was a maternity ward nurse, so babies were also at risk. According to the NY Times, four babies definitely got TB (they are now healthy), but 1,000 of the patients could not be found. The nurse worked at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, was was contagious......

The Health Department is so worried that the Asian bird flu will hit New York that officials meet every two weeks to figure out a strategy on how to save the city. Basically, the fear is that the avian flu is "one crucial mutation away from turning into a monster malady," hyperbole courtesy the Daily News, and the dilemma is whether or not to stockpile the city with Tamiflu, the "only known treatment against bird......

City health officials are wondering what's going on at Bronx Science High School, one of the city's coveted magnet schools: Hundreds of students were ill last week. The bathrooms and cafeteria are all being tested, as complaints of nausea, stomach aches, diarrhea, and vomiting have increased. (Hey, that sounds like Wednesday nights at Gothamist!) The Health Department thinks it's a viral illness: The medical director of the Office of School Health said, "It's unusual, and......

The Department of Health is always thinking: Health officials are reportedly asking vendors to submit bids to provide glow-in-the-dark condoms, amongst other "novelty condoms." As the Post points out, clearly the Health Department is thinking about potential blackouts and blackout sex. The Health Department distributes millions of condoms to individuals, health-care providers, and community groups; the Post also says "New York men will be able to don different colors for every holiday, including red and......

Gothamist was slightly disappointed when we read the NY Times article titled, " New York Region > More Rats? Pied Pipers Are Needed, Officials Say" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/nyregion/23rats.html">More Rats? Pied Pipers Are Needed, Officials Say," because there was no actual mention of having a squad of musicians being used to lure rats from their hiding places. Can you imagine if that's what subway musicians did - led rats away to the East River? Or if pest......

The Department of Health is looking to crack down on food cart vendors who "repeatedly violate sanitation laws" (like insufficient vermin protection), probably in order to raise revenue. However, the Post questions the effectiveness of the whole food cart inspection system, as the DoH "has failed to confirm a single case of food poisoning, yet it slams vendors with $1,000 fines for transgressions like not wearing a hair net or vending too close to a......

The Department of Mental Health and Hygeine has fined 524 NYC restaurants for violating the new no-smoking laws between May 1 and August 29. The Post reports that 40 of those restaurants are three time violators, which means they could be shut down. Some establishments (like movie theaters) are being ticketed for not having proper signage. Which may be why, as the Daily News says, why Blue Hill was fined as it doesn't seem like......