Fifth person dies in Legionnaires' disease outbreak in NYC neighborhood - USA Today

What the report says

USA Today reported that New York City health officials announced July 21 that a fifth person had died in connection with a Legionnaires’ disease cluster on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The city health department said it had found at least 82 cases tied to the outbreak. As of the report, eight people were still hospitalized and 56 had been released after hospital care.

According to the department information cited by USA Today, investigators linked the outbreak to building cooling towers in the neighborhood. Officials said 34 cooling towers at 33 buildings tested positive for live Legionella bacteria, which causes the disease. Those towers, along with all buildings that tested positive for either live or dead bacteria, had been cleaned. Test results from another 140 cooling towers were expected over the following week.

NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Alister F. Martin said in the department release that the city had moved quickly with testing and remediation and believed it had removed the exposure source. USA Today reported that no additional cases had been diagnosed in six days and no new symptoms had been reported for more than 10 days.

Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of pneumonia associated with Legionella bacteria, which can grow in warm water systems. The illness is generally contracted by inhaling contaminated water droplets, including from cooling towers, hot tubs or fountains, and is not typically transmitted from one person to another. Symptoms can resemble the flu and may include fever, cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea, confusion, headaches and muscle aches.