Officials identify UES cooling towers that had living Legionella bacteria before outbreak - Gothamist

What the report says

Gothamist reported that New York City health officials identified 56 Upper East Side buildings whose cooling towers contained live Legionella bacteria before a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak. The July 27 report said the outbreak had sickened 89 people and killed five as of Monday, while investigators were still working to determine which tower or towers were responsible.

According to Gothamist, the city Health Department collected culture samples from cooling towers in the three ZIP codes tied to the outbreak. Those slower lab tests are more precise than earlier rapid PCR screening, which had found 76 buildings with traces of Legionella DNA, including both live and dead bacteria. Health Department spokesperson Chantal Gomez said officials were narrowing the inquiry and would compare the live bacteria from towers with samples from patients before identifying a definitive source.

Gothamist reported that building owners drained cooling towers after the initial PCR results, and Gomez said the likely source had been removed because officials had not seen new diagnoses. Twelve buildings were still awaiting culture results, with testing and lab capacity cited as reasons for delays.

The findings matter because cooling towers can spread Legionella when water systems are not properly maintained. Gothamist noted that city rules require building owners to run culture tests every 31 days and that the Health Department aims to inspect each cooling tower annually. City data cited by Gothamist showed inspection and reporting gaps: 56% of cooling towers had been inspected in the past year as of June 17, and 82% had submitted Legionella test results as of July 24. Gomez cautioned that a positive culture result does not by itself prove a building owner violated regulations.