The number of New Yorkers diagnosed with Legionnaires’ Disease on the Upper East Side has jumped to 10, officials said Saturday.
Council Speaker Julie Menin and other city officials were alerted to the significant increase as the city continues to check cooling towers in the affected areas to see if the potentially deadly bacteria has spread.
So far, no deaths have been linked to the outbreak.
“The number of confirmed Legionnaires’ disease cases in parts of the Upper East Side has climbed to 10, per an update I received from @NYCHealthCommr,” Menin wrote on X Saturday. “If you live, work, or have recently visited the 10028 or 10128 zip codes, and you feel flu-like symptoms, please speak to your healthcare provider as soon as possible. My office is continuing to monitor this situation and will provide updates as warranted.”
On Friday, only two cases of Legionnaire’s Disease had been reported, although city doctors were awaiting additional confirmations.
City Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin said city health inspectors “have been sampling dozens of cooling towers as soon as we detected a potential Legionnaires’ cluster.”
The patients were all located in the Yorkville and Carnegie Hill neighborhoods of the Upper East Side, in zip codes 10028 and 10128, city officials said.
“Our inspections run every day (and) through the holiday weekend to keep New Yorkers safe,” he wrote.
Community outreach will be conducted in the area beginning over the weekend. Building owners with any cooling towers that test positive for the presence of Legionella bacteria will be directed to conduct full remediation.
Despite the cluster being investigated, it is safe to use your air conditioners during the oppressive heat wave hitting the city, officials said.
Legionnaires’ Disease killed seven people and left 90 hospitalized following an outbreak in Harlem last year. During a similar outbreak in the South Bronx in 2015, a dozen New Yorkers were killed. Another 127 were sickened, officials said.
Legionnaires is a bacterial pneumonia caused by the bacteria legionella, which grows in warm water. While it cannot be passed from person to person. Most people exposed to the bacteria do not develop the disease, officials said.
People only get sick by breathing in water vapor containing Legionella bacteria, officials said. Symptoms resemble other types of pneumonia and can include fever, chills, muscle aches, and cough.
Adults with any flu-like symptoms, fever, cough, or difficulty breathing in the affected areas since late June are encouraged to seek immediate medical attention, officials said. A Health Alert is also going out to health care providers throughout the cluster areas, advising them to consider Legionnaire’s disease for people presenting with compatible symptoms.
Anyone wishing to learn more can visit https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/legionnaires-disease.page