Seven cases of Legionnaires' disease have been reported in the Bronx, and city health officials are investigating the case.
The Wall Street Journal reports that according to city health officials, the new cluster is associated with the Morris Park section of the Bronx, and is unrelated to the earlier outbreak in South Bronx.
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene deputy commissioner Dr. Jay Varma said that the city began looking into the cases last week, and found that of the seven who became sick, three live in Morris Park and the other four either visited recently or work there.
All of the patients, according to Dr. Varma, had underlying medical conditions which made them vulnerable to the infection. They are currently hospitalized.
None of the patients aged 45 to 75 live in the same building. Dr. Varma says this caused health investigators to believe that the source of the infection may be an outdoor source, like an air-conditioning tower.
"Seven people hospitalized, thank God all getting treated," said New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, as per New York Daily News.
He explained that the city's health department is working with the state to analyze the cases.
"We are watching the situation closely," he said.
The WSJ reports that an earlier legislation required buildings with cooling towers to have them registered at the city's Department of Buildings and have them regularly inspected and cleaned.
"The new legislation made it possible for us to immediately identify all the buildings in the surrounding area that had cooling towers, and to send teams out on Saturday and Sunday to sample those cooling towers," said Dr. Varma.
The summer outbreak, which had 12 casualties and over 100 infections, was the largest in history. It came from a water cooling tower in the South Bronx. Officials, however, do not yet know the cause of the recent cases.
City health commissioner Mary Bassett explained that all cooling towers that had been tested during the weekend had been cleaned recently, and said that they "do not yet know the source" of the cluster.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Legionnaires' disease is caused by the bacteria Legionella, which is spread through water vapors or mists in the air.
Annually, an estimated 8,000 to 18,000 people are hospitalized from being infected. Older people, such as the ones reported in the recent cases, are the ones most susceptible to the infection, in addition to those with a compromised immune system.
"This is a disease that's readily treatable with antibiotics," said Dr. Varma. "Get medical attention right away."
