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The outbreak is linked to cooling towers in Manhattan’s Yorkville and Carnegie Hill neighborhoods, officials said
Legionnaires’ disease is a severe pneumonia caused by inhaling mist containing Legionella bacteria, not spread person to person
Impacted areas include Gracie Mansion and Museum Mile, with residents urged to seek care if flu-like symptoms appear
Eighteen people have been sickened in a worsening outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the New York City Health Department said in a July 5 update.
Just three days prior, there were only 2 cases of the disease, which is centered in the Yorkville and Carnegie Hill neighborhoods, the city said in an update. The impacted ZIP codes are 10028, 10128, and 10075, and no deaths have been associated with this cluster of illness.
Legionnaires‘ disease is a type of serious pneumonia that causes cough, fever, headaches, shortness of breath and nausea. While it can be treated with antibiotics, in serious cases, it can lead to lung failure and death, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says.
View of the Yorkville neighborhood in New York’s Upper East Side
Credit: Getty
It’s generally not spread from person to person; rather, it’s contracted by inhaling mist that contains Legionella bacteria, per the CDC. Cooling towers are often a source of Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks because they’re filled with water.
“The likely source of the bacteria causing this pneumonia is a cooling tower in the affected area,” city officials said in an update. “Cooling towers are water systems usually found on the top of buildings. They control the temperature of cooling systems, such as refrigeration. The cooling towers spray mist that contains the bacteria. All cooling towers in the affected area are being tested by the Health Department.”
As Johns Hopkins Medicine explains, “If not properly maintained, the water can foster Legionella bacteria, which can then be swept into the system’s fans and circulated throughout the building’s air.”
The city said that plumbing systems in the impacted ZIP codes are not suspected to carry the bacteria, adding, “It is safe for you to drink water, bathe, shower, cook, and use your air conditioner. Continuing to use your air conditioner is especially important when the city is experiencing extreme heat and temperatures reach dangerously high levels.”
Stock image of a water cooling tower
Credit: Andrew Burton/Getty
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Anyone who lives or works in the impacted areas, or visited the neighborhoods since late June, should contact a health care provider “immediately” if they experience “flu-like symptoms, such as cough, fever, or difficulty breathing,” officials said.
Along with residences, schools, and hospitals, the impacted area includes such high-traffic destinations as Mayor Zohran Mamdani‘s official residence, Gracie Mansion, and Museum Mile, which includes the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
Last summer, cooling towers were behind a Legionnaires’ outbreak in Harlem that caused 6 deaths and sickened more than 100 others.
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