A fourth person died in Manhattan’s Legionnaires’ outbreak, bringing the toll to four on 76 confirmed cases, with seven people still hospitalized Monday evening.
City officials said the likely exposure source has been eliminated after weeks of testing cooling towers in the Upper East Side and ordering contaminated systems drained and disinfected.
The latest death was reported a day after the third fatality, marking a fourth straight day with a death even as officials said the outbreak may now be under control.
Health authorities urged anyone who spent time in ZIP codes 10028, 10075 and 10128 to seek care for flu-like symptoms, which can appear up to 14 days after exposure.
Legionnaires’ disease is a severe pneumonia linked to Legionella bacteria in warm, stagnant water; the CDC says about 10% of patients die from complications.