AI Generated Image
Second person dies in legionnaires’ disease outbreak in New York City
The Guardian • • health
Key Points:
- A second person has died in a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in New York City, which has sickened at least 72 people, with nine still hospitalized and 50 discharged.
- Officials believe the source of the outbreak, linked to contaminated cooling towers on Upper East Side buildings, has likely been eliminated through aggressive testing, cleaning, and disinfection efforts.
- The city mandated immediate cleaning of cooling towers that tested positive for Legionella bacteria and reminded operators to increase biocide use to prevent bacterial growth.
- New cases peaked in early July but have since dropped significantly, with fewer than one new case daily reported from July 10 to 17.
- Legionnaires’ disease, a form of pneumonia caused by inhaling contaminated water droplets, is treatable but has a mortality rate of about 10%, and the bacteria do not spread person to person.
