Source of exposure for Legionnaires' disease cluster in New York City 'eliminated': Health officials
The source of bacteria that caused a cluster of Legionnaires' disease on Manhattan's Upper East Side has been "eliminated," the New York City Health Department said on Friday.
As of July 30, there were 92 cases and seven deaths, primarily affecting three ZIP codes, including the neighborhoods of Carnegie Hill and Yorkville. At least 79 people were hospitalized and five remain in the hospital, the department said.
The department said two weeks have passed without anyone experiencing symptoms of Legionnaires' linked to the cluster. Because the disease has an incubation period of up to 14 days, the department said the cluster exposure has ended.
Legionnaires' disease is a severe form of pneumonia that is caused by inhaling the Legionella bacteria in small droplets of water mixed in the air or contaminated water accidentally going into the lungs. The bacteria can grow and spread in cooling tower systems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A health department investigation led to 83 buildings being ordered to clean and disinfect their cooling towers. Fifty-nine cooling towers tested positive for live Legionella bacteria and 124 tested negative, according to the department.
Inspections by the city found two cooling towers on the Upper East Side with "significant maintenance failures" including one that had never been registered with the City and was operating illegally, the department said.
"All New Yorkers deserve a government that responds quickly, acts transparently, and never hesitates to protect public health," Dr. Alister F. Martin, New York City Health Commissioner, said in a press release. "The moment we identified a potential community cluster, we mobilized more than 260 Health Department staff, tested every cooling tower in the affected area, and directed every building with an initial positive test to immediately clean and disinfect its cooling tower, before we ever confirmed live Legionella bacteria were present."
The statement went on, "We continue to enforce New York City's rigorous cooling tower regulations and hold accountable any building owner who fails to meet their responsibility to keep New Yorkers safe."
The department said the NYC Public Health Laboratory is comparing bacterial samples from patients with samples from cooling towers that tested positive. Results from the sequencing analysis are expected by the end of August.
