You would think that living in the city with the highest herpes rate would put the fear in New Yorkers, but a new Dept. of Health report is calling NYC out on its unsafe sex practices...and promiscuity! The Daily News breaks down the report, which shows that 40% of residents (your friends, neighbors, colleagues!) with multiple partners didn't use a condom the last time they had sex. 11%--that's around 610,000--had more than one partner in......

The Dept. of Health is looking into why hundreds of New Yorkers were informed that they tested positive for HIV infection after an oral exam, when in fact they were HIV negative. The non-infected status was determined by a follow-up blood test that was administered immediately. Still--pretty scary. The State Health Dept. and the CDC are investigating why the OraSure mouth swab tests resulted in an approximate 50% false-positive rate (The FDA's allowable false-positive rate......

An additional $1.25-a-pack tax on cigarettes goes into effect Tuesday, meaning that a carton of name brand smokes will cost a staggering $85. If the average cost of a box of premium brand cigarettes rises to $8.50, 50% of that cost is directly related to taxes ($2.75 to the State, $1.50 to the City). The Center for a Tobacco Free New York hopes that the latest tax increase will cause another 6% of the state's......

On the evening of April 3rd it was announced that Sound Fix, the record shop/cafe fixture on the corner of Bedford Avenue and N 11th Street in Williamsburg, was shut down. Since first mention the Dept. of Health has been blamed with locking the doors, but noise complaints are generally at the root of every establishment's demise. What many thought was a temporary setback that would dim the cafe section for a few weeks at......

For the second time in as many years, the famous Stage Deli in Manhattan was shuttered by the Dept. of Health after inspections found the restaurant infested with vermin. The Times Square institution was last closed in mid-2006 after it accrued too many points during a health inspection (points are for violations and a score above 28 is a failure.) As reported in The New York Times, the DOH inspected the Stage last Wednesday and......

It's the reproductive version of the subprime mortgage crisis! According to the NY Post, New York City's sperm banks are holding a lot of junk. State regulators haven't inspected four of the city's six sperm banks since 2004, leading to lax screening of donors. Many samples aren't checked for diseases and donations are accepted from men admitting to high-risk sexual behavior. From the Post:Idant Laboratories...failed to pass along information about "high-risk social and sexual behavior"......