The Upper East Side’s Legionnaires’ outbreak has claimed a sixth life, even as the city insists the worst of the cluster is over.
City Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin announced the death Tuesday evening, saying 90 people have now been sickened since the outbreak was first identified in early July. “We extend our heartfelt condolences to their loved ones, and our thoughts are with them during this difficult time,” Martin wrote.
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More than 70 people have been hospitalized over the course of the outbreak, and six remain in the hospital as of writing.The grim update lands alongside a hopeful one. City health officials say no new cases have been diagnosed since July 17, and no new symptoms have been reported in more than two weeks. “We continue to believe the source of exposure has been eliminated,” Martin said.
As we reported when the fifth death was confirmed on July 22, the cluster has ranked among the most serious the neighborhood has seen in years. The case count then stood at 82.
Investigators believe the outbreak traces back to a water-cooling tower contaminated with Legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease when it is inhaled in mist or vapor. The Health Department has been testing cooling towers across three ZIP codes that run from Central Park to the East River — 10028, 10128 and 10075, covering Carnegie Hill, Yorkville and Lenox Hill.
To date, 183 cooling towers at 160 buildings have been tested, according to the Health Department. Of those, 77 cooling towers at 75 buildings turned up PCR-positive for Legionella in initial screening, and 59 cooling towers at 58 buildings came back culture-positive — confirming the presence of live bacteria. All of those buildings have been cleaned and disinfected, and another 124 cooling towers tested culture-negative. Officials caution that a culture-positive tower may or may not be the actual source of the cluster, and that more testing is needed to pin down the one responsible.
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Legionnaires’ is treatable with antibiotics, and most healthy people exposed to the bacteria do not get sick. The risk is highest for people over 50, smokers and those with weakened immune systems or chronic lung conditions. Symptoms — fever, cough, chills, muscle aches and shortness of breath — can take up to two weeks to appear, which is why the city has urged anyone who was in the affected area and feels ill to seek care promptly.The deaths mark Manhattan’s second fatal Legionnaires’ outbreak in two years. A similar cluster in Harlem last year killed seven, a reminder that despite city rules requiring regular maintenance of cooling towers, the equipment continues to prove deadly when it is neglected.
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