There have long been concerns over health and sanitation at the Occupy D.C. encampment at McPherson Square, but how bad are things really? Pretty awful, according to a D.C. health official. more ›

If you put enough people outside for a long enough time during the cold months, someone will eventually get sick. For Occupy DC protesters and the District's health officials, this reality underlies the ongoing challenge of maintaining healthy encampments as the weather turns. more ›

A year ago, the District started an ambitious and innovative program to better test residents for HIV/AIDS -- it started offering screening inside the Penn Branch DMV facility at 3220 Pennsylvania Avenue SE. more ›

In case you weren't sure, it is indeed very illegal to operate an unlicensed operation in which you inject silicone into the buttocks of women inside D.C. hotel rooms in exchange for cash. more ›

Contenders in the Republican presidential contest have been going after presumed front-runner Rick Perry for a number of reasons, but they've focused in on one issue that truly seems to resonate with conservatives -- the HPV vaccine. more ›

If there's a complaint about Metro, chances are we've heard it. But we have to admit that The Examiner has uncovered a new one -- pigeon turds which have coated a Metro bus garage in Virginia. more ›

No one likes getting eaten up by the skeeters. But the District Department of Health is warning D.C. residents that an itchy red bump might not be the worst thing that could happen after they take a bite out of you -- West Nile Virus has been identified in mosquito samples in the District. more ›

Sad, if not entirely unexpected news: the first D.C. fatality due to the recent heat wave has been confirmed. more ›

It's been well documented that the Anacostia River is not in the best health. So what better way to protest the government's lack of attention to the waterway than by hopping into it with a hazmat suit on? more ›

Could the atherosclerotic-related death of Ralph Polanec, the general manager of the Hamilton Crowne Plaza hotel, inside the Balance Gym at 1111 14th Street NW have been avoided? more ›

Recent statistics show that more people in the District are getting tested for HIV/AIDS, earlier. That's no reason to wait, though. more ›

A new report on the number of District residents living with HIV and AIDS showed that 3.2 percent of the city, triple the standard World Health Organization rate for an epidemic, still suffer from the afflictions -- but the report did note a decline in the number of new cases. more ›

Yesterday, we reported on 28 D.C. women whose scheduled abortion procedures at a local clinic were in danger of being unexpectedly cancelled after D.C. Medicaid coverage of such procedures suddenly expired. Amanda Hess follows up today with the news that the fundraising effort spearheaded by the DC Abortion Fund -- which garnered support from Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington and an fund-match from the Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund -- enabled all 28 women to make their appointments. more ›

The compromise reached last week by President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner to reinstate a ban on D.C.'s ability to fund abortions for low-income women has, so far, been enveloped inside a bubble of political rhetoric. But the very real effects of the ban have started to take hold: 28 women who were scheduled for abortion procedures in the District today were informed by a local clinic last night that, as of midnight, they would be unable to rely on D.C. Medicaid to pay for those procedures. more ›

Ward 3 D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh thinks that D.C. government employees (and the city's finances) could stand to benefit from a healthier working environment -- so this morning, Cheh introduced legislation which would change what goes into nearly 4,000 government vending machines across the city, as well as authorize healthy food vendors to set up shop on District property, like the Wilson Building. more ›

It was only a matter of time, really. more ›

DC WASA is asking its customers in a large section of of Northwest D.C. not to use their tap water until further notice due to a temporary spike in chlorine levels. more ›

Flu season might not have a theme song, but it's got a mascot and league officials and rally towels. And flu season is upon us. This year, it's just as confusing as the BCS to boot. There are now two shots (or sprays) to consider -- one for seasonal influenza and one for the dreaded H1N1 bug -- and you'll need to consult the strength-of-schedule rankings for your Ward to determine whether you're eligible to receive an H1N1 vaccination. What does that even mean? It means you need to ask yourself: more ›

Both D.C. Wire and WJLA have updates on the health of former mayor and Ward 8 D.C. Council member Marion Barry, who was hospitalized early Tuesday morning to be treated for "dehydration," according to his spokesperson. Barry remained in Howard University Hospital's intensive care unit on Wednesday, according to both reports, and will likely not be discharged for at least a "few days." Seems kind of extreme for a case of dehydration, but considering Barry's age and health (he's 73, has diabetes and recently underwent kidney transplant surgery), we suppose it makes sense for his doctors to be overly cautious. Barry spokesperson Natalie Williams elaborated to WJLA that Barry's doctor also diagnosed the councilman with a mild infection. more ›

Los Angeles quartet HEALTH is quite possibly one of the noisiest bands to have emerged from the underground and garnered some success. Their live shows could hardly be called controlled chaos, because the control is barely noticeable amid the leaping guitarists, primal shrieks and multiple percussionists. Their performance energy is more engaging than repulsive, and they have obvious talent, but there aren't exactly any "songs" easily picked out in a HEALTH set. more ›

Last August, we wrote about Marissa, a 19-month-old baby girl living in Annandale, Virginia, who was diagnosed at two months with a rare pediatric condition called Infantile Spasms (IS). IS is a type of epilepsy experienced in infancy that causes clusters of seizures and can lead to development problems. Marissa's father, Mike, who spearheaded a global online effort for IS awareness, recently e-mailed us with the sad news that Marissa has "taken a turn for the worse." Mike wrote, "She was recently hospitalized, and we discovered that she had constant seizure activity in her brain. 24/7. Non-stop." According to Mike, Marissa has been placed on a treatment that costs around $5,000 per day, per shot. The folks over at deviantART, an online community for artists, have announced the Fairfax Art Drive, in which artists can donate a portion of their commissions to Marissa and her family. A list of commissions can be found here. You can find more information about Marissa and her bunny, Fairfax, at Marissa's Bunny. more ›

Even when the news is bad, it's at least reassuring to read that what you've anecdotally observed is in fact part of a larger trend. The Post today says that hospitals are reporting a sharp rise in summer flu cases across the region, something we've certainly noticed seems to be true based on the number of friends and colleagues who have come down with nasty bugs in the last month. The main culprit does appear to be the H1N1 virus, aka Swine Flu, which explains why there are so many new flu cases at a time of year when there are typically zero. The really special part? "The federal authorities said it's too early to tell whether those who contract H1N1 now will be immune in fall when the flu season kicks into high gear." So those of you who've been sick for the last two weeks may get to do this all over again in December. Think about investing in Campbell's chicken noodle soup. more ›

The swine flu scare is saying sayonara. The virus, while very infectious, proved not to be very deadly. With this new CDC directive, all closed Maryland schools will reopen Wednesday. As far as we know, Our Lady of Victory in the District has not yet decided to reopen. more ›

Health officials have confirmed five cases of measles in the D.C. metro area, and released a list of potential exposure sites to the public. Measles is a highly contagious disease that has been technically eradicated in this country since 2000, so any reported cases at all are taken very seriously. WTOP has been all over this story today. more ›

The Post's Nikita Stewart reports what members of the D.C. Council apparently already knew, but the public did not: Ward 3 D.C. Council member Mary Cheh was diagnosed with breast cancer last fall. Cheh has already undergone radiation treatment and a lumpectomy at Sibley Memorial Hospital, and told Stewart that her doctors have said her prognosis is good (she'll continue to be treated with drugs for the next five years). The Council member said she is disclosing her illness to draw attention to the need for women to be tested often. "I want to be a poster child for early detection," she told the Post. more ›

This morning's Post expands on yesterday's Metro press release, which admitted that a MetroAccess driver tested positive for tuberculosis this fall. The driver in question was removed from his role in mid-October, but the more pressing concern is the 762 riders that could possibly have caught the airborne infection, which propitiously was not a more advanced, drug-resistant strain of the disease. Those who have tuberculosis can pass the infection by simply being in close contact with others -- the infection spreads through the mouth by coughing and sneezing -- but it can also be spread simply by speaking. The Post's report notes that local health departments believe that about 100 people have a "serious" risk of being infected. more ›

• Tuesday, October 28, at Eastern Market and Farragut North
• Wednesday, October 29, at Franconia-Springfield and Braddock Road
• Thursday, October 30, at Forest Glen and New Carrollton

Good morning, Washington. We're getting off to a late start this holiday week morning, which is really just as well, since there's not too much local news to report anyway. But let's get the ball rolling with a few stories ... more ›

>> Three students at a controversial Massachusetts clinic where D.C. special education students have been farmed out for years were mistakenly subjected to electric shock treatments as part of a prank. [Examiner] more ›

Good morning, Washington. We'll be standing by for a good chunk of the day to see what the Metro Board decides to do about the proposed fare hike - the Board is meeting at 11 a.m. for a session that is expected to produce a final vote on the fare hikes, which could go into effect as soon as January. Board members have indicated they would likely pass a fare hike that is slightly less than the current proposal. more ›