Legionnaires Case Reported in Rockland; Bronx Death Toll at 10

Written by SIMONE WILSON (Patch Staff)

NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio announced at a mayoral press conference last week that the Bronx’s recent Legionnaires outbreak has now claimed 10 lives.

Additionally, there more than 100 cases of Legionnaires’ disease in the South Bronx, the mayor says.

“We’ve never seen a situation like this before in New York City,” he says.

The Legionella bacteria that caused the outbreak was traced to five different water-cooling towers in the South Bronx.

On Friday, a factory worker at Chromalloy Gas Tribune Corporation in Orangeburg in Rockland County was diagnosed with the disease and is being treated, according to WNBC-TV. The case marks one of the first reports of the disease recently being discovered outside of the South Bronx.

All plant workers were sent home on Friday as a precaution, but whether the employee contracted it at the facility or somewhere else was not immediately known. The Rockland County Department of Health is monitoring the situation.

In Westchester County, there does not appear to be a cause for concern, according to Caren Halbfinger, Director of Public Affairs for the Westchester County Health Department.

“Unless they spent time in the South Bronx, there is little or no risk to Westchester residents,” Halbfinger told Patch. “Every year, there are a number of cases scattered sporadically throughout the county. Either the county or state health department investigates those cases to determine the cause. Now that we are aware of these South Bronx cases, should we get any new reports, as part of our investigation we will ask whether the patient had spent time in the South Bronx.”

To be cautious, the department is urging “Westchester building owners and institutions with cooling towers or evaporative condensers to proactively clean, inspect and disinfect their equipment to prevent the spread of Legionnaires’ disease.”

According to ABC7NY, the following buildings in New York had their cooling towers scrubbed after testing positive for the virus: Streamline Plastics Company, the Opera House Hotel, Concourse Plaza Mall, Lincoln Hospital and a Verizon office at 117 Street.

“We remain confident that the source of these current cases... is among the five locations that were identified and remediated,” the mayor says. “But today we’re going to take additional steps to protect our fellow New Yorkers.”

All buildings with a cooling tower in NYC will be required to test their cooling towers for Legionella within the next 14 days — a service that the New York City Department of Health (DOH) will be offering for free.

DOH officials told reporters during a press conference late last week that they’ve been counting cooling towers throughout the city, to see what they might be dealing with. The count sits at 2,500 so far.

Legionnaires’ disease, or legionellosis, is a type of pneumonia that can grow and spread in warm water. According to the Centers for Disease Control, symptoms normally occur two to 14 days after contact and include fevers, headaches and muscle aches.

The DOH began receiving reports of Legionnaires cases about one month ago, on July 10.

As of Aug. 8, the latest figures from the Legionnaires outbreak, via the DOH, say:

• Individuals with Legionnaires’ deceased: 10
• All deceased individuals were older adults and had additional underlying medical problems
• These patients are connected to the current cluster
• Reported individuals with Legionnaires’: 108
• Individuals with Legionnaires’ hospitalized: 101
• Of the 101, the number of individuals with Legionnaires’ treated and discharged: 76

“As we look at these numbers, these are people,” says DOH Commissioner Mary Bassett. ”This is the largest epidemic or outbreak that we’ve seen in new York City, and our thoughts are with the 10 families of people who have lost their lives.”

Before you freak out, school yourself: 5 Things to Know About Legionnaire’s Disease.

Patch Editor Alfred Branch contributed to this report.