Legionnaires' outbreak hits New York as officials rush to test water towers

Legionnaires' outbreak hits New York as officials rush to test water towersImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, At the town hall on the Upper East Side church this week, New York City Health Commissioner Alister Martin said the city had identified the outbreak earlyByMadeline HalpertPublished56 minutes agoFor the past few days, Justine Kirby has been sporting an N95 mask every time she leaves her house to walk in her quiet Upper East Side neighbourhood.She is keeping her apartment windows closed, too, as an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease grows to 46 cases, which the city has linked to contaminated water cooling towers.The cluster of Legionnaires' infections - a serious type of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria - has raised alarms among residents in the community, who packed a town hall in an Upper East side church this week to pose a series of questions to New York City's health department."There is quite a level of concern in the community," Kirby said. "I'm the sort of person who likes to say that the risk may be small, but until the [cleaning and disinfecting] is done, I don't see much downside in taking these extra measures."As of Wednesday evening, 22 people who were sick had gone to the hospital, some of whom were in the intensive care unit, health officials have said. Legionnaires' is caused by bacteria that grow in warm water, leading to flu-like symptoms that can sometimes be fatal without treatment and for those who are immunocompromised.The current outbreak is caused by cooling towers from larger buildings where Legionella bacteria live and multiply, infecting people when they breath in the bacteria from the mist of the towers, said Dr Wafaa El-Sadr, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.This week, the city announced its "aggressive" plan to tackle the outbreak, saying it would work to test all the water coolers in the area. The depar...