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
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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’...
Read original source- Published
- Jul 16, 2026
- Updated
- Jul 16, 2026
- Source
- Global News
- Category
- Health
- Read time
- 3 min
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