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The Legionnaires' disease outbreak affecting New York City has claimed the life of a fifth person in Manhattan, the municipal Department of Health reported this Wednesday, noting also that it detected the disease's bacteria in 34 cooling towers across 33 buildings.
The five deaths, out of a total of 82 registered cases, occurred between last Friday and this Tuesday, all in Manhattan's Upper East Side, the health agency indicated in a statement in which it specified that the 34 affected towers have already been cleaned.
One of the deceased was an 88-year-old decorated Army veteran, and his family has warned that they will sue the owner of the tower that caused his infection once the Department of Health determines the origin of the outbreak.
"We have responded quickly and decisively to this Legionnaires' disease outbreak in the Upper East Side. After two confirmed cases, we began our investigation and ordered all buildings with an initial positive result to immediately clean and disinfect their cooling towers. These measures have saved lives," stated the city's Health Commissioner, Alister F. Martin.
The official also noted that no new cases of Legionnaires' disease have been registered in the last six days, while eight people remain hospitalized and 56 have already been discharged.
The Department of Health conducted a full inspection of all cooling towers that tested positive and will issue citations with fines when inspectors identify violations of municipal laws or regulations.
A municipal law that went into effect last May requires building owners to perform Legionella screening tests every 31 days while cooling towers are in operation.
On Tuesday, City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who was critical of the outbreak management, introduced a bill along with other council members to toughen those regulations. The proposal would require the city to identify cooling towers whose owners have not performed the mandatory inspections and to proceed with their disinfection as a preventive measure.
The initiative also includes the creation of a telephone hotline during the summer months to provide information to citizens in the event of new outbreaks.
[Publicidad]