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NYC reports second death in Harlem Legionnaires' outbreak
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Aug 5, 2025
Modified Aug 5, 2025
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Andrew Burton/Getty Images
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Aug 5, 2025
Modified Aug 5, 2025
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A second person has died of Legionnaires’ disease and 58 have been sickened amid a growing cluster in Central Harlem, according to the latest update from the city health department.
The city provided no details on the deaths, but urged anyone in a cluster of Zip codes exhibiting flu-like symptoms to seek medical treatment. Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Michelle Morse said that Legionnaires’ disease can be effectively treated if it’s caught early.
The affected ZIP codes include 10027, 10030,10035, 10037, and 10039 as well as surrounding communities, according to the city health department. Those ZIP codes generally stretch across Harlem from 116th to 155th streets.
The city reported the first death on July 30. At the time, there were 22 confirmed cases related to the outbreak.
Legionnaires' disease, a type of pneumonia, is caused by exposure to Legionella bacteria, which can grow in the water cooling towers perched atop many buildings across the city. People who inhale infected water vapor can be infected. It can cause flu-like symptoms including cough, fever, chills, muscle aches or difficulty breathing.
The city said Monday that 11 buildings that screened positive for the bacteria have completed remediation efforts such as cleaning the affected cooling towers or making changes to the chemical solutions used to treat them. That follows a July 30 order by the city health department that called for all cooling towers in the affected area to be screened for Legionella and to take steps to remediate it if the bacteria was detected.
The city has not released the addresses of the 11 Harlem buildings where the bacteria was detected. A public health lab is still working to identify which specific cooling tower or towers were responsible for getting people sick, said Chantal Gomez, a spokesperson for the city health department. Once the source is identified, the city will order a more thorough cleaning and remediation, she said.
These remediation measures are expected to prevent more people from getting infected, Gomez said. She added that the city still expects more cases of Legionnaires’ disease to be reported in the area because it can take several days after someone’s infected for symptoms to show up.
Health officials say the Legionnaires’ cluster is not tied to an issue with any building’s plumbing system and people living in affected ZIP codes are able to drink the tap water, shower, cook and use air conditioning at home.
City health officials say people are at higher risk for severe symptoms from Legionnaires if they are over 50, smokers, or have chronic lung disease or compromised immune systems.
Over the past decade, several hundred cases of Legionnaires’ have been reported in New York City each year. Last year, 257 cases were reported, according to preliminary data from the city health department.
In 2022, five people died from Legionnaires’ amid an outbreak at a Manhattan nursing home — the worst outbreak in the city since a 2015 outbreak in which a Bronx cooling tower was linked to 16 deaths.
The disease takes its name from a respiratory illness that killed 34 people and sickened 221 at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, during an American Legion convention in 1976. After an extensive investigation, the disease was linked to a newly discovered pathogen, dubbed the Legionella bacteria, found in the hotel air conditioning system.
Tagged
Health and Science
Legionnaires disease
harlem
Caroline Lewis
Caroline Lewis is on the health care beat for WNYC and Gothamist. She has covered COVID, a nurses' strike, the overdose crisis and New York’s marijuana legalization effort, and spent a year investigating patients' medical bills. She always wants to hear about how everyday New Yorkers experience the health system. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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