The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has announced that the Legionnaires' disease outbreak that took 12 lives and sickened hundreds is officially over.
No new illnesses have been reported since Aug. 3, longer than the two-week incubation period of the disease.
Additionally, officials identified the Opera House Hotel cooling tower as the source of the outbreak. That tower has been cleaned and disinfected and Opera House Hotel officials have cooperated fully with the investigation.
"Control of Legionella is complex, and disease protection, environmental science and laboratory advance work helped bring this unfortunate outbreak to an end," said Ann Schuchat, MD, assistant surgeon general and director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. "The quick and thorough reaction from local and state authorities likely prevented many others from developing Legionnaires' disease."