Cleveland hospital: Ohio woman dies of Legionnaires’ disease

The good news is that health officials have responded quickly and effectively to contain the outbreak.

As the mayor spoke, about 150 state employees-under the direction of Governor Andrew Cuomo-were canvassing the Bronx, testing cooling towers across the borough, part of an effort the governor described as “taking matters into our own hands”. The five towers were at Streamline Plastic Co., Lincoln Hospital, the Concourse Plaza shopping center near Yankee Stadium, the Opera House Hotel and a Verizon office building.

Later in the day, Gov. Cuomo announced that, starting today, teams led by the State Department of Health will be deployed to the Bronx to expedite the collection and testing of cooling tower water samples for Legionella Bacteria. People become infected by breathing in microscopic droplets of water contaminated with legionella bacteria.

The South Bronx remains ground zero for the outbreak. Twenty-six buildings on the city’s list did not actually have cooling towers, de Blasio said.

Glatter said that most of the people who are affected by Legionnaires’ are the elderly, people who smoke and those with chronic medical conditions, such as emphysema or asthma. “This is literally uncharted territory and it’s important we recognize that we’ve never seen an outbreak of Legionnaires’ like this in the history of New York City”, he said. The New York Daily News reported Friday that Marvin Montgomery’s attorney said he’s planning to file a lawsuit against the city Friday, and that in addition to being compensated for his injuries he wants to prevent future outbreaks. “And it also may have to do with the fact that we have an aging population, more people susceptible to the infection”.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said that two new fatalities reported on Thursday occurred in the same area of the South Bronx where the original outbreak was detected last month and that there was no sign of the disease spreading.

The sickness will get its identify from a 1976 outbreak at an American Legion conference in Philadelphia when 34 individuals died.

Legionnaires’ disease is classified as a very rare disease. WCBS-TV reports 100 people have been diagnosed with the disease with more than half receiving hospital treatment, then being released. The disease can be treated with antibiotics.

Six people died in Ohio of the disease in 2013.