{"id":285581,"date":"2026-07-03T03:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T03:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/285581\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T03:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T03:24:10","slug":"legionnaires-disease-outbreak-in-2-nyc-nabes-has-health-officials-on-high-alert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/285581\/","title":{"rendered":"Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in 2 NYC nabes has health officials on high alert"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York City Health Department has launched a probe into a concerning cluster of\u00a0Legionnaires\u2019 disease\u00a0cases<\/a> along the Upper East Side \u2014 with officials racing to track down the source of the outbreak.<\/p>\n

Two people have been diagnosed with the potentially fatal pneumonia-like illness<\/a> in the neighborhoods of Carnegie Hill and Yorkville as of Thursday, with possible additional cases pending test results, according to the health department.<\/p>\n

\"AThe New York City Health Department has launched an investigation after a cluster of\u00a0Legionnaires\u2019 disease\u00a0cases were identified in the Upper East Side. Brigitte Stelzer<\/p>\n

Authorities are asking New Yorkers who have lived, worked, or visited the Upper East Side nabes since late June to contact their healthcare provider if they develop flu-like symptoms, including fever, cough or difficulty breathing.<\/p>\n

If it is not treated in a timely manner, Legionnaire\u2019s disease can be fatal. The virus is not contagious, however, and can be treated with antibiotics, the department said.<\/p>\n

People 50 and older, cigarette smokers, and people with chronic lung disease or who are immunocompromised are at an increased risk of contracting the disease.<\/p>\n

The disease is typically transmitted through water supplies contaminated with Legionella bacteria, which can pop up in plumbing systems and find favorable conditions in cooling towers, whirlpool spas, hot tubs, humidifiers and condensers in large air conditioning systems.<\/p>\n

\"PartialAuthorities are asking New Yorkers who have lived, worked, or visited the area since late June to contact their healthcare provider if they begin to exhibit flu-like symptoms. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post<\/p>\n

Health officials investigating the outbreak will begin sampling and testing all cooling towers in the area. If any cooling towers test positive for Legionella\u00a0bacteria, building owners will be forced to conduct a full remediation.<\/p>\n

A Legionnaires outbreak gripped Harlem last summer,<\/a> sickening 114 people, resulting in 90 hospitalizations and seven deaths.<\/p>\n

The Rev. Al Sharpton and lawyer Ben Crump previously claimed<\/a> that up to 20 people \u2014 or nearly three times the official count \u2014 may have died during that outbreak due to misdiagnoses.<\/p>\n

There have been no deaths associated with the current cluster of Legionnaires\u2019 cases in Manhattan, according to health officials.<\/p>\n

It is still safe to use air conditioners, cooling centers and city facilities, which are vital resources for city residents in the throes of an extreme heat wave this week. <\/p>\n

Doctors have also been asked to remain alert and promptly report cases to the health department<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York City Health Department has launched a probe into a concerning cluster of\u00a0Legionnaires\u2019 disease\u00a0cases along the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[54088,5236,5237,8467,57,9,56,63,65,64,466,58,33621],"class_list":["post-285581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-carnegie-hill-historic-district","tag-diseases","tag-health-department","tag-legionnaires-disease","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-upper-east-side","tag-us-news","tag-yorkville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}