New York City issues Legionnaires' disease warning for Upper East Side
An undated image of a grouping of Legionella pneumophila bacteria, which causes Legionnaires' disease. Credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / Janice Haney Carr
Long Islanders who have recently visited the Upper East Side of Manhattan should keep a sharp eye out for flu-like symptoms of Legionnaires' disease — a potentially deadly type of pneumonia that has been tied as of Saturday to 14 people who spent time between East 76th and East 97th Street, public health officials said.
People who traveled in the neighborhood should monitor themselves for symptoms of Legionnaires' disease. Around two to 10 days after picking up the disease, a person might begin to show symptoms such as coughing, muscle aches and a high fever, the state Department of Health said on its website.
“We advise people to monitor for flu-like symptoms and to contact a healthcare provider immediately if symptoms occur,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Alister F. Martin said in a statement on Sunday.
Brought on by a bacterium called Legionella, the condition naturally occurs in the environment, state officials said. People typically contract the disease after inhaling vapors that contain the bacterium, which can be found in places such as cooling towers, hot water tanks and plumbing systems, they said. The disease is not transmissible from person to person, state officials said.
The majority of healthy people will not develop an infection, although individuals with weakened immune systems, chronic lung disease, or who are 50 years of age or older are more likely to fall ill, state health officials said.
Each year, the state sees about 200 to 800 cases of Legionnaires' disease reported, according to the state Department of Health. The summer season is when most Legionnaires' disease outbreaks occur.
Last summer, a Legionnaires' disease outbreak in Central Harlem infected more than 100 people, hospitalized 90 and left seven people dead, the city’s Department of Health said in a news release last August. An investigation later found that Legionella strains isolated from several patients matched those isolated from cooling towers at Harlem Hospital and a construction site.
As for the community cluster found on the Upper East Side, Martin said, “There is more work to do in the days ahead as we learn more about the source of exposure and confirmed cases.”
“We will continue to keep New Yorkers updated as we receive more information,” he said.
Tiffany Cusaac-Smith is a general assignment reporter for Newsday. She previously worked at USA TODAY and is an alum of Howard University.
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