Legionnaires’ Outbreak Tied To City-Run Buildings, Officials Say

HARLEM, NY — City officials Thursday released a list of contaminated buildings that led to the deadly, ongoing outbreak of Legionnaires' disease, and several of them are city-run properties, including a public hospital and a CUNY building.

Legionnaires’ disease, a type of pneumonia, is caused by bacteria called Legionella that thrives in warm water environments, like cooling towers, which create cold air by cycling warm air through water, creating a warm, humid environment within the system.

Twelve buildings had cooling towers that tested positive for legionella bacteria, and all but one of them has been remediated and cleared of bacteria. The final building will be cleared of bacteria by Friday, Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference Thursday.

The city's inspections for Legionella bacteria in cooling towers dropped in the months leading up to the ongoing outbreak of Legionnaires' disease, Patch previously reported.

The city first detected the outbreak on July 25, Patch previously reported. Since then, three people have died and 92 have been sickened, according to city data.

The outbreak of disease is in five ZIP codes: 10027, 10030, 10035, 10037 and 10039.

"Our hearts go out to everyone impacted by this cluster of Legionnaires, in particulate the friends and loved ones of the three New Yorkers we lost to this disease," Adams said. "As of today, 11 of the 12 cooling towers in Central Harlem that tested positive for Legionella bacteria have completed remediation, and by tomorrow, all towers will have completed remediations."

The disease spreads by inhaling contaminated vapor, but is not contagious from person-to-person, officials said.

Of the 92 people sickened by the disease, 15 of them are currently hospitalized, according to the latest city data.

The addresses of the impacted buildings are copied below.

• BRP Companies, Lafayette Development LLC, 2239 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd Manhattan, NY 10037 
• BVK, 215 W 125th St Manhattan, NY 10027
• Commonwealth Local Development, 301 West 124th St, Manhattan, NY 10035 
• CUNY – City College Marshak Science Building, 181 Convent Ave, Manhattan, NY 10031 
• Harlem Center Condo, 317 Lenox Ave, Manhattan, NY 10030
• NYC Economic Development Corporation, 40 West 137th St, Manhattan, NY 10037
• NYC Health Department Central Harlem Sexual Health Clinic, 2238 5th Ave, Manhattan, NY 10030
• NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, 506 Lenox Ave, Manhattan, NY 10037 
• The New York Hotel Trades Council Harlem Health Center, 133 Morningside Ave, Manhattan, NY 10027
• Wharton Properties, 100 W 125th St Manhattan, NY 10027 (3 of 8 towers)

Officials emphasized that the outbreak is not linked to any building’s plumbing system. Residents in the affected ZIP codes can safely drink tap water, bathe, shower, cook, and use air conditioning as usual.

"The hard part is that Legionnaires' disease presents very similarly to other forms of pneumonia, so symptoms, including fevers, chills, cloth, shortness of breath, muscle aches, can all be signs of Legionnaires' disease," Peter Collin, an internal medicine and infectious disease doctor at Family Health Centers at NYU Langone Health, told Patch.

"If people are experiencing those symptoms, they should be reaching out to their doctor right away."
Collin said people over the age of 50, and people that have chronic lung issues, are particularly at risk.

To see the latest data on Legionnaires' disease, click here.

For questions and tips, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.