Health officials have reported a second death linked to the Legionnaires’ disease cluster on the Upper East Side. Encouragingly, a recent drop in the number of new cases indicates that the source of this lethal outbreak may have been successfully neutralized.
“We are devastated to hear that yet another resident of New York has succumbed to Legionnaires’ disease on the Upper East Side. Our heartfelt sympathies go out to their family and friends during this difficult time,” expressed NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Alister F. Martin on Saturday.
This latest tragic incident follows closely on the heels of a previous death, which was reported just a day earlier as being connected to the outbreak in the Manhattan neighborhood.
This latest outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease has shaken the city, resulting in at least 72 confirmed cases and leading to the hospitalization of more than 50 individuals.
As of Saturday evening, nine patients continue to receive care in the hospital, according to official reports.
An average of one new case had been reported per day between July 10 and July 17, a sharp decline from the first week of July where an average of over eight new cases were being reported daily, officials said.
All victims of the outbreak have been on the Upper East Side from the cluster in the Carnegie Hill and Yorkville neighborhoods.
“While we mourn this loss, the data are also encouraging. Our aggressive strategy of testing, enforcement, and remediation appears to have stopped the source of exposure,” Martin said.
The disease, which stems from Legionella bacteria that has been found in 76 cooling towers across Upper East Side neighborhoods and one on the Upper West Side, is a deadly type of pneumonia that can be treated with antibiotics if caught early.
City officials ordered all buildings that returned positive screening results to clean and disinfect their systems as part of the investigation.
All required remediations were completed by July 16.
“We will continue inspecting every cooling tower that tested positive and will hold accountable any owner who fails to comply with our public health laws,” Martin added.
This year’s outbreak comes after over 250 cooling towers around the Big Apple were cited for issues relating to Legionella testing since last year — and more than half of those were in Manhattan.
Last year, there was an outbreak of the disease in Harlem that killed five people and sickened 114.