Important Health British Columbia

Legionnaires’ bacteria found in New York museum cooling systems: report

There were 63 confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease in the city by Wednesday, along with 13 hospitalizations, local officials said. No one has died as a result of the outbreak.

Legionnaires’ bacteria found in New York museum cooling systems: report
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There were 63 confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease in the city by Wednesday, along with 13 hospitalizations, local officials said. No one has died as a result of the outbreak.

An outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia, in an upscale New York City neighbourhood is slowing, authorities say, but the bacteria have made their way into the cooling systems of several well-known Manhattan landmarks. There had been 63 confirmed cases in the city as of Wednesday, along with 13 hospitalizations, local government officials said. The outbreak is confined to the Upper East Side neighbourhoods of Carnegie Hill and Yorkville.

The likely

Source and reference

source of the pneumonia-causing bacteria is a cooling tower or towers in the area, officials said. No one has died as a result of the spread, which has affected systems at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Guggenheim and apartment buildings on Fifth Avenue, the New York Times reported. Get weekly health news Cooling towers are usually found on the tops of buildings and control the temperature of infrastructure like refrigeration systems and hot tubs. The city health department is testing all such towers in the area, it said. When a test comes up positive, the protocol is to drain the cooling tower. To reduce the risk of bacteria growing, buildings should regularly clean and disinfect cooling towers, maintain adequate chlorine levels in spa pools and flush unused taps in buildings on a weekly basis, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises. Because Legionnaires’...

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Published
Jul 16, 2026
Updated
Jul 16, 2026
Source
Global News
Category
Health
Read time
3 min
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SectionHealth
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SourceGlobal News
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PublishedJul 16, 2026
UpdatedJul 16, 2026

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PublishedJul 16, 2026, 9:27 AMThis story was published by BC Post.
ImportedJul 16, 2026, 10:16 AMThe item entered the BC Post source pipeline.
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Global News Published Jul 16, 2026 Imported Jul 16, 2026
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Global News Jul 16, 2026
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