State health teams will deploy to the Bronx to help collect and test samples from cooling towers amid a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease as the number of those sickened grew by one to 101, officials said Friday.
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Death toll from Legionnaires’ disease have increased to eight, the New York City officials reported on August 5, reported cases increased, now it’s 97.
New York City’s Department of Health on Thursday ordered the examination and cleaning of all cooling towers in the city, in response to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that has claimed 10 lives.
“We’ve never seen an outbreak like this … there’s no such trigger, if you will”, Mr.de Blasio said.
But some industry experts say the scope of the city’s order is unrealistic.
Jay Varma, deputy commissioner for disease control at the city health department, told The New York Times that such regulations were not been put in place sooner because it can be hard to pinpoint the source of the disease-causing pathogen.
The disease is not transmitted person to person, nor can it be transmitted through drinking water.
Owners, operators and managers of private buildings with cooling towers or units could get free testing for Legionella bacteria through October. People become infected by breathing in microscopic droplets of water contaminated with legionella bacteria.
An isolated case of Legionnaires’, such as the one identified last month at West Chester University, is not in itself a big deal in terms of public health, Fishman said. James Keivom/New York Daily News It is believed the hotel’s cooling towers contributed to the outbreak of the disease, which can be contracted when people inhale mists from contaminated bacteria in the water source. Generally speaking, Legionnaires’ can be treated with antibiotics.
New Yorkers with respiratory symptoms, such as fever, cough, chills and muscle aches, are advised to promptly seek medical attention.
Anthony DeVito, vice president of engineering for Chemicals Specifics, Inc.in Maspeth, said cleaning cooling towers is expensive and labor intensive.
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It hasn’t been almost as bad as the episode that gave the illness its name – the 1976 outbreak that killed 34 people who had attended an American Legion convention in Philadelphia.
