Fifth person dies in New York City amid legionnaires’ disease outbreak

Legionella pneumophila bacteria, the cause of Legionnaires' disease. Photograph: Roger Harris/Getty Images/Science Photo Library View image in fullscreen Legionella pneumophila bacteria, the cause of Legionnaires' disease. Photograph: Roger Harris/Getty Images/Science Photo Library Fifth person dies in New York City amid legionnaires’ disease outbreak Outbreak has been traced to Upper East Side cooling towers, but Mamdani says source of exposure has been eliminated A fifth person has died in New York City in connection with the legionnaires’ disease outbreak on Manhattan’s Upper East Side neighborhood, according to the city’s health department. In an update issued Tuesday, the department said that 82 cases of legionnaires’ disease have now been identified and five people have died. Eight people remain hospitalized, while 56 have been discharged. Officials said that there have been no new cases diagnosed in six days, with no one reporting new symptoms in over 10 days. But they’ve cautioned that “these figures may change as new cases are investigated and confirmed”. The outbreak has been traced to cooling towers in buildings on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, and the health department said on Tuesday that confirmatory culture test results came back positive for live legionella bacteria in 34 cooling towers across 33 buildings on the Upper East Side. Nine cooling towers have negative culture test results, the statement said, while results for the remaining 140 cooling tower systems are expected over the coming week. The city’s health department said that while the testing is going on, all 34 cooling towers that tested positive have already undergone remediation and are fully cleaned, as are all buildings that previously tested positive. “We are saddened to share that a fifth individual has passed away due to the legionnaires’ disease cluster on the Upper East Side,” said Dr Alister Martin, New York City’s health commissioner, on Tuesday. “Our hearts are with their family, friends, and all those grieving this loss.” In a separate statement , Martin said that the city “responded rapidly and aggressively to this Legionnaires’ cluster” and that after the first two confirmed cases, “launched our investigation and directed every building with an initial positive test result to immediately clean and disinfect its cooling tower”. “We believe that through our aggressive strategy of testing and remediation we have eliminated the source of exposure,” he said. “We will learn more as our investigation unfolds and look forward to updating our existing policies and procedures to preventing future clusters. Right now, we are focused on identifying the source of exposure through laboratory analyses and holding accountable anyone found out of compliance with local laws.” Legionnaires’ disease is a “serious type of pneumonia caused by legionella bacteria”, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). People can get legionnaires’ disease “by breat