Ohio woman dies from complications of Legionnaires’ disease

More than 100 people have been diagnosed with the disease, a type of pneumonia caused by breathing in mist contaminated by Legionella bacteria.

“We can say with confidence that this outbreak has been contained”, said Mayor Bill de Blasio, even as he acknowledged the scope of the outbreak meant the city “was literally in uncharted territory”.

The state is also providing building managers and landlords with free Legionella testing through October.

Health officials say that older people with prior health conditions or respiratory diseases are more susceptible to catch the Legionnaire’s disease.

On August 11 the health officials will be conducting second town hall meeting as the outbreak is the largest in south Bronx’s history with Legionnaires’ Disease.

A 53-year-old woman died early Thursday at the University Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, after being diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease, health officials said. Everyone understands that the outbreak has been limited to one community in our city.

Late Friday, 1010 WINS reported another case of confirmed Legionnaires’ in the area, this one in Rockland County. Ten people have died.

There are also now more man-made water structures, such as cooling towers and indoor fountains, than there were several decades ago, and these increase people’s risk of exposure to Legionella, and could contribute to the rise in cases, Berkelman said.

The disease takes its name from its first outbreak, in 1976, at a Philadelphia hotel where a meeting of the American Legion society was being held.

Individuals living in the Bronx area showing symptoms such as coughing, fever and shortness of breath are urged to seek medical attention immediately.

Citywide, building owners have been ordered to disinfect their cooling towers within 14 days if they have not already done so within the last month. Since then, all five have been decontaminated and are under watch by health officials.

“We now see the frequencies of the diagnoses decreasing”, said city Health Commissioner Mary Bassett. “However, when it is able to set up shop in cooling towers where the water is warm, it can reproduce quickly and spread”, he said.

It isn’t unusual for the town to report instances of Legionnaires’ Illness however the instances often aren’t clustered in a single location as they’re on this newest outbreak.