Cooling towers are at the center of an investigation into a Legionnaires' outbreak in New York City, according to a release from the city's health department.
The outbreak has sickened seven people in the Lenox Hill neighborhood of Manhattan since June 6. Four individuals are still hospitalized, two were discharged and one individual — a 90-year-old suffering from multiple comorbidities — died.
"The health department has identified an increase and cluster of Legionnaires' disease cases in the Lenox Hill area," said City Health Commissioner Mary Bassett, MD, according to the release. "We have begun an investigation to determine the source of the cluster, focusing on cooling towers in the neighborhood. I urge individuals in this area with respiratory symptoms to seek medical attention right away."
Legionnaires' — a virulent form of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria — is contracted through the inhalation of small droplets of contaminated water and is not passed via person-to-person contact.
Recent CDC research identified Legionella in more than 80 percent of nearly 200 cooling towers tested in the study.
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