Four dead in New York City outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease

Four people in New York City’s Harlem neighbourhood have died from an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, an aggressive and potentially deadly form of pneumonia.

The city has seen 99 confirmed cases with 17 people in hospital with the infection, according to the New York City Department of Health.

Officials have traced the outbreak back to 12 cooling towers on 10 buildings where bacteria was growing, including at a hospital and a health clinic.

Eleven of the 12 cooling towers have undergone remediation efforts, and the final one is expected to be fixed on Friday, according to New York Mayor Eric Adams.

Legionnaires’ disease is relatively rare, with less than 18,000 people hospitalised in the US every year, according to medical research centre Cleveland Clinic.

Transmission does not happen from person-to-person contact, but rather by mist in the air. The Legionella bacteria grows in stagnant, warm water, like the water that collects at the bottom of building cooling towers.

The risk of serious complications from the disease, including lung failure and death, is highest for people aged 50 over as well as for smokers.

At a news conference on Thursday, Adams insisted that the “situation is under control”.

“I want to reassure everyone the air is safe to breathe and there is no risk to our drinking water or our water supply,” he said.

The towers are located all over Harlem, which is located in Upper Manhattan, including at the City University of New York building and Harlem Hospital Center.

Health officials in the city are urging anyone experiencing symptoms to seek medical attention.

“This is not the time to say, ‘let me just go to the grocery store and get some ginger ale and let me lay up somewhere,'” Harlem City Councilmember Yusef Salaam said at a press conference last week. “This is the time for you to actually go and seek medical attention. That’s how serious this is.”