A historic outbreak involving Legionnaires' disease has hit New York City, triggering Mayor Bill de Blasio to issue a city-wide mandate to inspect and clean air conditioning cooling towers.
Since last month, South Bronx, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the United States, has been suffering from a Legionnaires' disease outbreak which has now sickened 86 people. Health officials said, however, that this number could grow as the disease has an incubation period of 10 days and the last cooling tower disinfection was carried out Aug. 3, although the outbreak has peaked and new cases have started to drop.
Out of the 17 cooling towers health officials inspected for the bacteria Legionella, five had tested positive. All were located in South Bronx and remediation had been completed at each site. When people inhale the mist from the infected cooling towers, that's the point they acquire the Legionella bacteria and contract Legionnaires' disease.
According to a statement from the New York City mayor, Legionnaires' disease has long been a public threat, intensifying not just in the city but the entire country over the last 10 years. Aside from comprehensive cleaning and remediation of the infected cooling towers, the city's immediate response to the outbreak involves providing treatment for those who got sick and vigorously campaigning to provide the public with the facts of the disease.
"However, a more systematic solution is required to prevent the cycle of these outbreaks from continuing," added the statement, saying new legislation will be announced within the week in an effort to stop future outbreaks and emphasize long-term prevention.
De Blasio is confident that the city has been able to identify all the infected sites already but acknowledged that New York doesn't have a complete registry of all its cooling towers, a misstep that will be corrected in the new legislation.
According to Mary Bassett, New York City health commissioner, people with underlying conditions like asthma, chronic bronchitis or emphysema are at higher risk of falling victim to the outbreak. With most of the people dying from the disease also suffering from underlying problems, the outbreak has also identified that South Bronx is suffering from a higher burden of underlying conditions.
The last Legionnaires' outbreak was in December 2014. It was also in the Bronx and 12 people got sick. The disease is common in summer and early fall, with symptoms like muscle aches, headaches, coughs and fevers.
Photo: Pavel Tcholakov | Flickr
