A New York City health official is warning that more cases of the treatable pneumonia are expected to turn up over the next few days amid the outbreak that has sickened dozens of people.
Dr. Jay Varma spoke with the Associated Press on Saturday, saying he believes people may have become infected before the city cleaned the cooling towers where the disease-causing bacteria had been found. Five cooling towers in the South Bronx were found to be contaminated with Legionella bacteria, which can sicken people when water droplets are released into the air from the towers.
Dr. Varma said anyone living close to the towers could become infected with the disease. He pointed out the rising number of casualties reflects the incubation period for Legionnaires’ disease, which can be about 10 days. But he also said people don’t have to be worried about their tap water being contaminated because the bacteria are in the water droplets coming from the cooling towers.
The disease gets its name from an outbreak of a pneumonia-like illness discovered at an American Legion meeting in 1976 in Philadelphia. The disease is transmitted through air-conditioning, showers, baths, cooling towers or other water sources.
Investigators discovered the sources of the Legionella bacteria in the cooling towers at Lincoln Hospital, one of the city’s busiest, and the hospital was decontaminated earlier this week. Decontamination efforts at Concourse Plaza are ongoing, and city health officials said disinfection began at the Opera House Hotel Friday.