NYC Tests 139 Cooling Towers After 28 Legionnaires' Cases Hit Upper East Side
Updated
Updated · FOX 5 New York · Jul 8
NYC Tests 139 Cooling Towers After 28 Legionnaires' Cases Hit Upper East Side
3 articles · Updated · FOX 5 New York · Jul 8
Summary
Twenty-eight Legionnaires’ cases have been confirmed on the Upper East Side, and New York City is holding a public town hall as officials warn more infections may still be found.
Health teams are tracing the outbreak to rooftop cooling towers that can spread Legionella through fine mist in hot weather; 139 towers had been sampled in ZIP codes 10028, 10128 and 10075.
A 23-block testing zone runs from East 74th Street to East 97th Street, and any building with a positive tower will be publicly identified and ordered to drain and chemically disinfect the system.
Doctors have been told to actively screen patients, especially people 50 and older, smokers, and those with lung disease or weakened immune systems; early antibiotic treatment is effective.
The city says Legionnaires’ does not spread person to person or through drinking tap water, but the cluster has revived concern after a Harlem outbreak last year killed 7 people.