LEGIONNAIRE’S SCARE NYC outbreak grows to 10 dead, 100 diagnosed

Mortality from Legionellosis is estimated to be 5-30 percent.

“The good news is, this outbreak is clearly tapering off”, he added. People are sickened with Legionnaires’ disease by breathing in water vapor containing Legionella bacteria.

Symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease include headache, fatigue, loss of appetite, confusion and diarrhea.

“This order instructs the owners or managers to test and disinfect their cooling tower within the next 14 days”.

The South Bronx health crisis appeared on the wane Friday, with just one new reported case of the disease and no new fatalities.

Still, The Times noted, “cooling towers account for a relatively small proportion of Legionnaires’ outbreaks”.

The disease, a serious pulmonary infection, is spread by bacteria that thrive in warm water, such as that found in hot water pipes, air-conditioning systems and industrial ponds. All of the deceased were older adults with pre-existing medical conditions.

Health officials also said they were confident that the outbreaks peak was now over and that there will now be a massive decrease in diagnoses frequency.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are anywhere from 8,000 to 18,000 Legionnaires’ hospitalizations a year. Those people are more susceptible to the illness. Official counts still show an upward trend, from 1,127 cases in 2000 to 4,548 in 2013. A woman in Michigan died from the disease earlier this week after antibiotics failed to stop the disease.

Elsewhere in the US, Legionnaires’ cases have also been recorded.

Additionally, New York City officials announced that there is one more case linked to the outbreak in the Bronx, delivering a total of 101 people reported since July 10.

Dr. Claressa Lucas of the CDC defended the city’s response.

“Socioeconomic disparities in disease should be of concern to public health policy makers”, the authors wrote in November.

Teams from both the city and the state scrambled to identify which buildings in the Bronx have the towers; prior to this outbreak, no city records were kept as to which buildings had cooling towers.

State officials said that by the end of the day, at least 100 cooling tower sites will have been tested in five other areas of the Bronx, including the Highbridge, Hunts Point, Mott Haven, Fordham and Mount Eden sections.