Confirmed Legionnaires’ death in Cleveland

The city’s health department issued an order Thursday requiring all building owners to disinfect their cooling towers within 14 days, or be subject to fines.

The current outbreak has been traced to five cooling towers in the Bronx, which have since been decontaminated. They are scattered throughout the city, Dr. Mary Bassett, the commissioner of the Department of Health, said.

Though residents in the South Bronx have expressed frustration over the city’s response to the outbreak and their borough president, Ruben Diaz Jr., criticized Mr.de Blasio for not seeking federal help to handle Legionnaires’, officials said the number of diagnosed cases has been on the decline since late July. The disease has taken place due to inhaling mist contaminated with certain bacteria.

A comprehensive and cutting-edge event, the conference ensures engineering and facilities management teams are able to prevent legionella bacteria from developing and comply with water safety regulations.

The illness gets its name from a 1976 outbreak at an American Legion convention in Philadelphia when 34 people died.

The disease is caused or infected by breathing in mist contaminated by a certain bacteria. Legionella, the bacteria that causes the disease, can be found naturally in creeks, ponds, hot water tanks, air conditioning cooling towers and condensers. “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”. While the investigation into the source of the outbreak continues, here are some things you should know about the outbreak and the disease.

Yes. Legionnaires’ disease can be treated effectively with antibiotics.

“Previously, and this is the consensus of everyone I’ve talked to who are experts in this field, there wasn’t an identified pattern that suggested these cooling towers were a problem”, de Blasio said on Tuesday, according to The New York Times. However, it is common for water sources to test positive for Legionella, so the test result does not definitively point to these towers as the culprit of an outbreak, Yu said. They’re discussing how to handle the outbreak.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the state will now offer free Legionella testing for all eligible buildings statewide.