Fifth person dies in Legionnaires' disease outbreak in NYC neighborhood

A fifth person has died in connection to a cluster of Legionnaires' disease in New York City, health officials reported July 21.

The New York City health department said in a news release that it has identified at least 82 cases of the disease in an outbreak on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Eight people remain hospitalized, while 56 people have been discharged from the hospital.

The department pointed to cooling towers found on buildings in the tony neighborhood as the source of the outbreak, saying that 34 cooling towers at 33 buildings returned positive tests for live Legionella bacteria, the organism responsible for the disease. Those towers and all buildings that have tested positive for the bacteria, dead or live, have been cleaned, according to the release.

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Results for the remaining 140 cooling towers that have been tested are expected to be returned "over the next week," according to the release.

"We have responded rapidly and aggressively to this to this Legionnaires’ cluster on the Upper East Side," NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Alister F. Martin said in the release. "We believe that through our aggressive strategy of testing and remediation we have eliminated the source of exposure."

No new cases have been diagnosed in six days and no one has reported new symptoms in over 10 days, according to the release. 

What are the symptoms of Legionnaires' disease?

Legionnaires' disease is a serious type of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria, which thrive in warm water systems. People become infected by breathing in tiny droplets of contaminated water, commonly from sources such as cooling towers, hot tubs or decorative fountains.

Incidences of the disease have increased since 2000 with a peak in 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The bacteria is not spread person-to-person but can be inhaled when it gets into the water supply of a building – according to the CDC.

Those who were in the area are encouraged to look out for flu-like symptoms. According to the Mayo Clinic, Legionnaires' disease can present itself in the following ways:

• Headaches and muscle aches
• Fever
• Coughing and shortness of breath
• Chest pain
• Nausea
• Confusion

Contributing: Anthony Thompson, Amethyst Martinez – USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fifth person dies in Legionnaires' disease outbreak in NYC neighborhood