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Volume 23, Number 11—November 2017
CME ACTIVITY - Synopsis

Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreaks and Cooling Towers, New York City, New York, USA

Robert Fitzhenry1, Don Weiss1Comments to Author , Dan Cimini, Sharon Balter, Christopher Boyd, Lisa Alleyne, Renee Stewart, Natasha McIntosh, Andrea Econome, Ying Lin, Inessa Rubinstein, Teresa Passaretti, Anna Kidney, Pascal Lapierre, Daniel Kass2, and Jay K. Varma
Author affiliations: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Queens, New York, USA (R. Fitzhenry, D. Weiss, D. Cimini, S. Balter, C. Boyd, L. Alleyne, N. McIntosh, A. Econome, Y. Lin, I. Rubinstein, D. Kass, J.K. Varma); Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York, USA (T. Passaretti, A. Kidney, P. Lapierre); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (J.K. Varma)

Main Article

Table 1

Community outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease, New York City, New York, USA, 2006–2015*

NYC borough (outbreak no.)
 Outbreak dates
 Outbreak zone ZIP codes
 No. cases
Crude rate†
 Median age, y (range)
 No. deaths, all cases
 No. patients Lp culture+ (zone residents)
 Environmental testing results
Outbreak total (zone residents)
 Rest of NYC
 Outbreak zone
 Rest of NYC
Bronx (1)
 Jun–Oct 2006
 10460, 10461, 10462, 10472, 10473
 29 (29)
 87
9.7
 1.1
 57 (38–91)
 1
 0
 No sampling performed at time of outbreak
Manhattan (2)
 Aug–Sep 2008
 10018, 10019, 10036
 7 (7)
 36
9.8
 0.4
 64 (46–81)
 0
 0
 Supportive housing potable water Lp1, residential building potable water L. anisa, supermarket CT Lp6, L. bozemanii
Bronx (3)
 Nov 2014–Jan 2015
 10475
 8 (8)
 41
18.8
 0.5
 58 (29–69)
 0
 1
 Residential potable water (no Lp1), CT 1 (27/30 culture+ for Lp1 and Lp6), CT 2 (1/10 culture+ for Lp6), supermarket mister (no Lp by PCR)
Queens (4)
 Apr–Jun 2015
 11354, 11355
 16 (14)
 26
9.2
 0.3
 65 (50–99)
 0
 0
 Potable water of 2 housing complexes (6 PCR+, Lp2 culture+), 1 CT PCR+ and culture+ for Lp1
Bronx (5)
 Jul–Aug 2015
 10451, 10452, 10454, 10455, 10456, 10459, 10474
 138 (108)
 48
25.7
 0.6
 55 (30–90)
 16
 26 (23)
 All (55) identified CTs in outbreak zone (14 culture+ for Lp1)
Bronx (6) Sep–Oct 2015 10461, 10462, 10469 15 (10) 18 5.0 0.2 56 (31–71) 1 4 All (50) identified CTs in outbreak zone (8 culture+ for Lp1)

*CT, cooling tower; Lp, Legionella pneumophila; NYC, New York City; +, positive.
†Cases/100,000 population.

Main Article

1These authors contributed equally to this article.

2Current affiliation: Vital Strategies, New York, New York, USA.

Page created: October 12, 2017
Page updated: October 12, 2017
Page reviewed: October 12, 2017
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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