Second death reported as Manhattan Legionnaires’ outbreak cases fall sharply

New York City health officials announced on Saturday that a second person has died in a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak centered on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The outbreak has now sickened at least 72 people, with nine still hospitalized and 50 discharged as of Saturday. City officials reported the first death on Friday.

The health department said two confirmed cases occurred on 2 July, followed by an average of more than eight new cases per day through 8 July. New infections then fell to fewer than one per day between 10 and 17 July. Health Commissioner Dr.

Alister F. ” Every building with an initial positive test result was ordered to clean and disinfect its cooling tower immediately, and all completed the work, he said. Officials also reminded operators citywide to increase biocide use during summer months.

Tests found Legionella bacteria in cooling towers on more than 75 Upper East Side buildings, including the Guggenheim Museum, museums, private schools and apartment houses. The city has not identified a single source building. Legionnaires’ disease is a form of pneumonia caused by Legionella pneumophila bacteria that grow in warm, stagnant water.

People contract it by inhaling contaminated droplets; it does not spread person to person. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that the illness kills about 10 percent of patients.

In August 2025, an outbreak in New York’s Harlem neighborhood sickened more than 100 people and caused seven deaths.