A growing group of cases of legionnaire’s disease in the Bronx has killed one person and killed 18 others, eight of whom are currently hospitalized, the New York City Department of Health said Wednesday.
The cases appear to be related to four water cooling towers on top of buildings in the Bronx Highbridge neighborhood, where officials said they found Legionella pneumophila, the bacterium that causes legionnaire’s disease.
“While most people exposed to bacteria do not get sick, legionnaire’s disease can cause serious illness or death for those at higher risk, including people with pre-existing chronic health problems,” he said. city health commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan. , in a statement. “That’s why it’s crucial to seek medical attention as soon as you experience flu-like symptoms.”
Outbreaks appear to be exacerbated in New York City, where aging water cooling tanks at the top of buildings can become deposits for bacteria. The disease can be treated with antibiotics if it is detected early enough.
The last known death in a group of cases was in 2018 and was related to an outbreak of 18 cases in Upper Manhattan.
A 2018 Department of Health analysis showed that between 200 and 700 cases were reported in the city each year and that the rate was rising. Large groups of cases, however, were uncommon as they passed on average once or twice a year, the health department said.
In 2015, the city experienced its biggest outbreak, with 138 people sick and 16 dying from Bronx disease. The city then began a number of prevention efforts, including requiring building owners to regularly supply their water supply to detect bacteria.
But the disease persists: Last year, a group of 18 cases in Harlem were linked, at least in part, to an infected water cooling tower at Harlem Hospital, a public hospital in the city.
With this latest outbreak, city health inspectors have been monitoring the residents to warn them of the cluster and have ordered the tower owners to disinfect them.
On Wednesday, the health department asked New Yorkers with flu-like symptoms, cough, fever or shortness of breath living in the Highbridge area to contact a doctor immediately. Symptoms may also resemble other types of pneumonia, causing chills and muscle aches.
The disease is named after an outbreak of a 1976 American Legion convention at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. More than 2,000 legionaries attended, and then 182 fell ill and 29 died. It was later discovered that the bacterium was growing in the hotel’s air conditioning system.
Legionnaires’ disease is most common in warm weather, when conditions are favorable for the growth of legionella in cooling towers, hot tubs, hot tubs, humidifiers, hot water tanks and evaporative condensers. large air conditioning systems, the health department said. It is produced by breathing infected water vapor and is not transmitted from person to person.