Legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ Disease, has been discovered in the water system at the Minneapolis Veterans Medical Center. No illnesses have been reported. Officials are working to eliminate the pathogen which was discovered during routine testing on Nov. 19. The system is being flushed and filters have been installed on taps and shower heads. … Read more
Three Chicago area schools were closed last week because their water systems had dangerous levels of Legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires Disease. Officials from School District U-46 closed Eastview Middle School, Larkin High School and the Educational Services Center, housing Gifford Street middle and high schools and the Central Schools Program, on Thursday and Friday while … Read more
New York City health officials used whole genome sequencing (WGS) and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) to solve the Legionnaires Disease outbreak linked to the Opera House Hotel in the South Bronx. The outbreak, which sickened 128 people in the South Bronx killing 12 of them, was the city’s largest-ever. Legionnaires’ Disease develops when water mist contaminated … Read more
A cooling tower at the Opera House Hotel in the South Bronx was the source of a Legionnaires Disease outbreak that sickened 128 people, killing 12 of them, New York City health officials have determined. The tower was disinfected August 1, and the outbreak is now over, according to the health department. Legionnaires’ Disease causes … Read more
Legionnaires’ Disease was the source of more than 80 percent of waterborne outbreaks between 2011 and 2012, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). During that time period, 280 people from 11 states were sickened in 18 outbreaks. reported. Sixty seven people were hospitalized, 10 people died. Fifteen … Read more
At least 124 people have been sickened in New York City’s worst-ever Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak. Twelve people have died. The illness is not spread person-to-person. It is spread by inhaling mist from contaminated water sources and from drinking improperly treated water. In this outbreak, the cases, all clustered in the South Bronx, have been linked … Read more
A Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak in New York has sickened 100 people, killing ten of them. Although most of the case are concentrated in the South Bronx, the city has ordered owners and operators of cooling towers throughout the city to disinfect them if they haven’t done so within the last 30 days. Legionnaires’ Disease is transmitted … Read more
Four people have died and sixty one others are sick in Legionnaires Disease outbreak in New York City. Fifty five people remain hospitalized. Legionnaires’ Disease causes pneumonia-like symptoms such as fever, cough, fatigue, confusion, aches and lung inflammation. Symptoms usually appear two to 14 days after exposure. People contract Legionnaires’ Disease by inhaling contaminated water … Read more
A Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak at the Springhill Suites by Marriott in Altamonte Springs, Florida has sickened at least three people and potentially exposed thousands of others. The Seminole County Health Department is contacting every guest who has stayed at the hotel since since September 2014 to alert them to the dangers of the disease which … Read more
An outbreak in the Bronx of Legionnaires’ disease has been associated with Co-Op City, one of the largest cooperative housing developments in the world. The New York City Health Department announced last month that preliminary tests found that cooling towers at the complex were contaminated with Legionella bacteria. When Health Department representatives met with a large … Read more