Four people are dead and 55 are hosiptalized in Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak in the South Bronx hat has sickened at least 65 people.
Legionnaires’ Disease causes pneumonia-like symptoms including fever, cough, fatigue, confusion, aches and lung inflammation. Symptoms usually appear two to 14 days after exposure. It is transmitted by inhaling contaminated water mist from showers, faucets, whirlpools, swimming pools, fountains or cooling towers in air conditioning systems. It cannot be transmitted from person to person.
Most of the cases are in New York City have been reported since mid-July. Water sources at five buildings including a hospital, and a hotel have tested positive for legionella, the bacteria that cause Legionnaires’ Disease. Four of those buildings have completed a santization process to remove the bacteria.
Anyone sickened in this outbreak should contact a Legionnaires’ disease lawyer to discuss a lawsuit and how to protect legal rights. If a source of illness is found, the owner of the building with the contaminated water (water containing the outbreak-strain of Legionella bacteria).