Jonathan Fielding

L.A. County Meningitis Stats Raise More Questions -- County Only Recently Began Tracking Sexual Orientation

Updated at the bottom: Health experts say only some types of bacterial meningitis are spread person-to-person, these types are not as contagious as flu and are not sexually transmitted. The CDC says there is no increased risk among gays and no rationale for county officials to alter their approach. ... More >>

Tuberculosis Outbreak's Federal Help In DTLA Could Be Hampered By Sequester

Federal health officials planning to help out with a Skid Row tuberculosis outbreak might be foiled by the federal budget impasse. That according to Los Angeles County's director of public health Jonathan Fielding, who told reporters today that the federal "sequester" that would impose deep cuts on ... More >>

Top 3 Weekend Food Events: Proyecto Jardin Clean-up, Marcus Samuelsson at Post and Beam Health Propaganda Talk at Zocalo

Proyecto Jardin Winter Clean-up "Every Day Is Earth Day" is Proyecto Jardin's motto. The garden behind White Memorial Hospital in Boyle Heights supplies produce and medicinal plants to the community, and also is home to a park and exercise area. Join this cleaning session to prepare the soil for spr ... More >>

Porn Industry, Steven Hirsch, Kayden Kross, File Suit Against Mandatory Condoms In L.A.

As we predicted, freedom of speech is shaping up to be a key issue in the porn industry's fight against mandatory condom use on-set in Los Angeles County. Smut business titans including Steven Hirsch, chief of Vivid Entertainment, announced that they have filed a lawsuit in federal district court i ... More >>

Flu Season Comes To Los Angeles, Blindsides Rest Of America

We survived the end of the world, the worst economy since the Great Depression, and the fiscal cliff. And you thought we were out of the woods? Nope. Flu season is your next big obsession if you're a pessimistic Debbie Downer who dwells on a dark future. Emergency room visits for this bug are expl ... More >>

Porn Defends the Money Shot

Critics gain ground, demanding condom use to control AIDS

Porn Clinic AIM Closes For Good: Valley-Based Industry Scrambles to Find New STD Testing System

VividThe porn industry is all shook up.​Updated after the jump: The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is calling on county health officials to enforce condoms at porn shoots in the absence of an STD testing regime. It has been a saga much more juicy than any of porn's non-plots. Nearly three months ... More >>

Legionella Bacteria at the Playboy Mansion: OK. It Totally Festered in the Grotto.

MySpaceBack away slowly​Update: Confirmed, once and for all, by the LA Times: Health officials identified legionella bacteria in a whirlpool spa at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles during an investigation in February that began when people were sickened after attending a fundraiser. We're n ... More >>

Japan Earthquake: Could Nuclear Power Plant Radiation Reach L.A?

Fukushima, on-edge.​Update: Minor amounts of radiation are projected to reach SoCal by Friday, after the jump. Could radiation from Japan's quake-stricken nuclear power plants reach Los Angeles? It's a long shot. But a look at Pacific jet stream animation shows that what happens in Japan doe ... More >>

Radioactive Clouds Antidote? A Big Fat Chill Pill For L.A., Public Health Officials Say

AirplaneCalmate, eses.​Updated after the jump: L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa weighs in with much of the same. The worst thing about radioactive clouds headed our way from Japan tomorrow? Panic, says L.A. County Public Heath chief Jonathan Fielding. "The biggest health impact is the psych ... More >>

Flu Season: Three Dead In L.A. County, 50 Infected In Outbreak At A Local School

Tristen.PeltonGet your shot on.​The sun is shining and winter seems kind in L.A. this week, but not beneath the surface. Three people have died of influenza in the last two weeks, the county reports, marking the first fatalities of the 2010-11 flu season. Don't panic, but ... The county also ... More >>

Death, Money and Megaraves

Why Los Angeles politicians embrace a growing Ecstasy phenom that kills

Good Morning, L.A: Cold Enough For You?

L.A. does cold too, sometimes.​How cold has it been the last few nights? Charlie Sheen hired two porn stars just to keep him warm. Willie Nelson was arrested for possession of marijuana. Frozen marijuana. And people who planned to protest the TSA's airport-security pat-downs at LAX actually b ... More >>

Rabid Bats On The Increase In Los Angeles: One Resident Bitten

Bats are on the increase in L.A.​As if we don't have enough things to worry about -- marijuana's still not fully legal, our public colleges are charging private-school prices, and L.A. has the worst roads in the nation -- county officials have announced that "rabid" bats are on the increase. ... More >>

Will.i.am To Star In Los Angeles County Public Service Announcement About Ecstasy And Raves

blackeyedpeas.comWill.i.am says let's NOT get e-tarded.​We're not sure if e-tards will look at a public service announcement and renounce their drug-taking ways, but your tax dollars will be put to work to that end anyway. The county of Los Angeles is producing a public service announcement t ... More >>

Porn Industry Group Finally Reports HIV Case To L.A. County Health Officials

The porn industry took its time reporting an HIV-positive actor.​The porn industry's main health-care organization caved and sent the results from a positive HIV test to the county, as mandated by state law. The Adult Industry Medical (AIM) Healthcare Foundation turned the results in Tuesday ... More >>

Top 25 Earners In Los Angeles County Government Revealed: All Make Nearly $350k And Above

​In the wake of the Bell salary scandal, we let you know about the Los Angeles County government's top-five earners -- including a sheriff's "commander" who was number one with $440,915.61 in take-home last year -- in a report earlier this month. Now we're going to roll out a list of the top ... More >>

L.A. County To Consider Health Grades For Food Trucks

​The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will take up the issue of whether or not to give restaurant-style health grades to food trucks. The board was originally scheduled to consider the matter Tuesday but the proposal was postponed until next week. County public health director Jonathan ... More >>

L.A. County Sees First West Nile Virus Case Of Season

​The first West Nile Virus case for the 2010 season has been reported in Los Angeles County, according to the county's director of public health. A teenager came down with the virus in mid-August and has since recovered, the county reports. "West Nile Virus is primarily spread through mosquit ... More >>

Heat Alert For L.A. County Friday And Saturday

​Summer's late, like Pamela Anderson to an interview, but we'll take what we can get. On Thursday the county of Los Angeles issued a "heat alert," warning that it'll be a blazer Friday and Saturday in L.A. basin, especially for Lancaster and the Santa Clarita, San Fernando and San Gabriel Vall ... More >>

Salmonella Outbreak Prompts Food Recall for Eggs and Frozen Fruit in L.A.

eiratansey via Flickr​ The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health warned Angelenos Tuesday of two nationwide food recalls linked to salmonella. The tainted products are for certain eggs shipped from Wright County Egg company of Galt, Iowa and frozen mamey pulp fruit from COCO S.A. of G ... More >>

Angelenos Healthier, Making Gains Against Heart Disease, Cancer, HIV, Strokes And More

​Following news last week that life expectancy in Los Angeles County was at an all time high (with 80-years-old being the new average), county health officials this week gave the reasons for L.A.'s decreasing death rate. Data from 1998 to 2007 shows major gains on HIV infections (down 36 per ... More >>

Warm Enough For You Yet? 'Heat Alert' Issued For Los Angeles' High Desert

​The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health this week issued a "heat alert" for residents of the high desert -- namely Lancaster and the Antelope Valley, where high temperatures were expected to reach the triple digits through Saturday. The department warned that people prone to heat ... More >>

L.A. County In Relatively Good Health

​The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health this week touted a study that concluded L.A. county has "one of the lowest per capita death rates in the state, ranking 14th out of the state's 58 counties," according to a statement from the department. "This report underscores that our col ... More >>

County Supervisor Threatens To Banish Porn Industry Over Condoms

​After a county health official said requiring condoms on porn shoots in Los Angeles County would simply drive them outside L.A., Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said let them leave. "I don't give a damn if they leave L.A. County,'' he said. "This is not an industry that we want to protect and enha ... More >>

Rubbers Revolutionary: AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Michael Weinstein

Activist wants to save porn actors from STDs. It's been lonely

Mr. Fielding, Tear Down This Wall

The folks at Neon Tommy, the USC School of Communication and Journalism publication, have written an open letter to Dr. Jonathan Fielding, the county's director of public health, asking him to be more forthcoming about how the county is dealing with the 57-death swine flu outbreak here. So far they' ... More >>

Letters: PSA on STDs

Our readers write us

Gay Syphilis Scourge Skyrockets

County officials dawdle, leisurely launching another questionable ad campaign

Skid Row Staph

It’s Weird Out There

Politicians provide comic relief from election madness

The First Step Back

Yes, needle exchanges can save lives. But they can do even more