A cooling tower at Yankee Stadium was among 10 in the South Bronx that preliminarily tested positive for Legionella bacteria amid an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that has killed one person and sickened eight others, city health officials said Sunday.
The city Department of Health ordered all 10 cooling towers to be cleaned and disinfected by Monday, Sept. 14. One was at 1 E. 161st St., where the Yankees were playing the Mets on Sunday. Another was at 234 E. 149th St., the address of Lincoln Hospital.
NYC Health + Hospitals said Sunday evening that Lincoln’s cooling tower had been completely drained, cleaned and disinfected. A spokesperson for the Yankees said their cooling tower was also drained, cleaned and disinfected Sunday morning. The team said its most recent Legionella test, conducted Aug. 20, was negative and that no cases in the current cluster have been associated with Yankee Stadium.
Health officials said it’s not known whether any of the towers that tested positive played a role in the most recent outbreak. The initial PCR tests detect the presence of Legionella DNA but cannot determine whether the bacteria are alive or dead. Officials said confirmatory culture testing is underway to determine whether any of the towers contain live Legionella.
Health Commissioner Alister Martin said being inside a building with a cooling tower that tested positive does not expose people to the tower’s water.
“In essence, the air inside the building is not different from anywhere else in the neighborhood,” Martin said.
All 10 cooling towers were located in the 10451 and 10456 ZIP codes, which include parts of the Morrisania and Melrose neighborhoods. Anyone who lives, works or has visited the affected area since late August and develops flu-like symptoms should contact a health care provider immediately, health officials said.
Martin said Legionnaires’ disease is treatable and urged people experiencing fever, cough, shortness of breath or muscle aches to seek medical care.
The towers were tested as part of a health department investigation into a cluster of Legionnaires’ disease cases. Officials said the department sampled water from 24 cooling tower systems.
Nine people have been diagnosed, including one person who died. Three people remain hospitalized, four have been discharged and one did not require hospitalization, according to the city. Health officials said there were no pediatric cases.
Legionnaires’ disease is a type of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria. People can develop the disease by breathing in mist containing live bacteria. The disease is not contagious, Martin said. People over 50, smokers and people with certain underlying health conditions are at higher risk of developing the disease, he said.
Cooling towers, which serve buildings’ air conditioning systems and release water mist into the air, have been identified as the source of previous community clusters.
Health officials said eight of the 10 cooling towers that tested positive were in compliance with a 31-day testing requirement that went into effect in May. The cooling towers at 820 Concourse Village West and 1265 Franklin Ave. did not provide the required testing information, officials said.
A spokesperson for NYC Health + Hospitals said Lincoln was in compliance with the testing schedule and was last tested Aug. 19.
The South Bronx cluster is the city’s second major Legionnaires’ outbreak this summer. An Upper East Side outbreak in July killed 11 people and sickened 94, making it the deadliest in the city since a 2015 outbreak in the Bronx killed 17 people.
Officials also said it is safe for people in the affected ZIP codes to shower, drink tap water and use air conditioners.
