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NEED TO KNOW
- The death toll in New York’s ongoing Legionnaires’ disease outbreak has been updated to five, as 14 people remain hospitalized and 108 are diagnosed with the severe pneumonia
- Residents in Central Harlem are asking “who dropped the ball?”
- The city’s health department said all the impacted buildings “have completed the treatment required”
The death toll in New York’s ongoing outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Central Harlem has risen to five, as more people continue to be diagnosed with the severe pneumonia.
Officials confirmed a previous death had been caused by the airborne bacteria, according to local outlet Gothamist, saying that the casualties now equal those from a 2022 outbreak at a nursing home. There are also 108 confirmed cases of the respiratory illnesses, and 14 people hospitalized, according to the most recent statement from New York City Department of Health.
Legionnaires’ disease is a type of serious pneumonia that’s contracted by inhaling mist that contains Legionella bacteria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The sources of this outbreak have been identified as 12 cooling towers for 10 separate buildings — but all towers “have completed the treatment required by the Health Department. We are continuing to monitor and let buildings know if additional treatment is needed,” the officials said.
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Cooling towers are often a source of Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks because they’re filled with water, John Hopkins Medicine explains: “If not properly maintained, the water can foster Legionella bacteria, which can then be swept into the system’s fans and circulated throughout the building’s air.”
Symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease can include a cough, fever, headaches, shortness of breath and nausea, and can be treated with antibiotics, but in serious cases, it can lead to lung failure and death.
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Residents in the affected areas spoke out about the city’s delay in releasing the addresses of the impacted buildings; “We did not want people to think, well, I don’t live there, I don’t have to worry,” Health Commissioner Michelle Morse said, per the New York Post.
But Nichole Ingram, a resident who was sickened with Legionnaires’ after attending a funeral in an impacted building — and whose son was hospitalized for the illness— told the outlet, “Why weren’t these cooling towers properly maintained? Who dropped the ball and why?”
