Second Fatality Reported in South Bronx Legionnaires' Disease Outbreak
Health officials say a second person has died and at least 14 have been infected in the South Bronx Legionnaires' disease cluster, prompting extensive disinfection of cooling towers and community outreach.
A second death has been linked to the Legionnaires' disease outbreak in the South Bronx, health officials announced Thursday. The city’s health department said the outbreak has sickened at least 14 people, 11 of whom required hospitalization.
NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin posted on X that the latest fatality is connected to the cluster and noted that the department has disinfected all cooling towers that initially tested positive for Legionella. He added that health staff have been conducting outreach, speaking with more than 1,700 residents, distributing over 4,000 pamphlets and contacting more than 140 organizations in the past week to raise awareness of symptoms and risk factors.
Preliminary testing last week identified Legionella bacteria in ten cooling towers across the Melrose and Morrisania neighborhoods, including sites near Yankee Stadium and the NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln facility. The affected towers were ordered to be drained, cleaned and disinfected.
As of Thursday night, one patient remains hospitalized while nine have been discharged. Officials continue to advise anyone who experienced flu-like symptoms after visiting ZIP codes 10451 or 10456 to seek medical care promptly.
The South Bronx cluster follows a larger outbreak earlier this summer on the Upper East Side that infected 94 people and resulted in 11 deaths. Legionnaires' disease is a severe form of pneumonia transmitted through inhalation of contaminated water droplets, with a mortality rate of about 10 percent.