An 88-year-old Air Force veteran from Yorkville checked into the hospital on 2 July with a sudden high fever. He died two weeks later. His was one of the first deaths in an outbreak that has now spread across Manhattan's Upper East Side - and put a little-understood disease back in the headlines.
As of the latest update from New York City health officials, the Legionnaires' disease outbreak has grown to 76 confirmed cases and four deaths, with 60 people hospitalised since it began in early July. Investigators have traced the source to Legionella bacteria in building cooling towers, testing 180 towers across the neighbourhood and finding live or dead bacteria in 31 buildings - among them the one housing the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, now ordered to deep-clean its systems.
A Disease That Travels On Water Vapour
Legionnaires' disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria, which occur naturally in freshwater but multiply dangerously in the warm, still water of building systems. The illness is treatable, but it is fatal in about 10% of cases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The bacteria spread through the air, not through people. In many cases, people contract the disease by inhaling tiny droplets of contaminated water; Legionnaires' doesn't spread person-to-person. Cooling towers, hot tubs, showerheads and large plumbing systems are the usual culprits - anywhere water sits warm and gets aerosolised into a fine mist.
That detail matters for public reassurance. City officials have stressed that mask-wearing will not prevent infection, precisely because the disease isn't passed between people.
The Symptoms That Mimic The Flu
The danger with Legionnaires' is how ordinary it looks at first. People usually develop symptoms - a cough, fever, headaches, muscle aches and shortness of breath - between two days to two weeks after exposure to the bacteria, according to the CDC.
Warning signs to watch for include: