Fifth Legionnaires’ death confirmed as dozens of NYC buildings found with live bacteria

A fifth person has died as a result of a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in a Manhattan neighborhood, according to the city’s health department, which also shared that dozens of buildings were found to have live legionella bacteria in their cooling towers.

A fifth person has died as a result of a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in a Manhattan neighborhood, according to the city’s health department, which also shared that dozens of buildings were found to have live legionella bacteria in their cooling towers.

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The New York City Health Department said confirmatory culture test results came back positive for the live bacteria in 34 cooling towers at 33 Upper East Side buildings. Nine cooling towers had negative test results, while results for the remaining 140 cooling towers tested are expected to come in over throughout the week.

The results show that there may not be one source in particular that started the outbreak, but rather multiple sources could have contributed to it and suggest that cooling towers are not being properly maintained.