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Officials identify UES cooling towers that had living Legionella bacteria before outbreak
Gothamist • • general
Key Points:
- New York City’s Health Department identified 56 Upper East Side buildings with active Legionella bacteria in their cooling towers following a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that has killed five people and sickened 89.
- Detailed culture testing, which is more accurate than initial PCR tests, is helping officials narrow down the outbreak’s original source by comparing bacteria samples from cooling towers and patients.
- Cooling towers, part of building air conditioning systems, can spread Legionella if not properly maintained; however, compliance with mandatory inspections and testing has been low, with only 56% of towers inspected in the past year.
- The health department believes the outbreak source has likely been eliminated after building owners drained cooling towers post-testing, and no new cases have been reported since.
- City Council Speaker Julie Menin criticized the city’s handling of the outbreak for lack of transparency and urged for all cooling towers in affected areas to be disinfected.
