NYC Legionnaires’ outbreak linked to two city-run buildings, including
Harlem Hospital
[August 30, 2025]
By PHILIP MARCELO and BRUCE SHIPKOWSKI
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City hospital and another city-run building
were sources for a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Harlem
that killed seven people and sickened dozens of others, health officials
announced Friday.
The New York City Health Department said bacteria from cooling towers
atop Harlem Hospital and a nearby construction site where the city’s
public health lab is located matched samples from some of the ill
patients.
The agency said they consider the bacterial cluster officially over
since the last day anyone reported symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease was
three weeks ago on Aug. 9. Since the outbreak, seven people have died
and 114 people have been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease, while six
people are in the hospital.
People usually develop symptoms — a cough, fever, headaches, muscle
aches and shortness of breath — between two days and two weeks after
exposure to the bacteria, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
City health officials said all facilities in the affected area have
cleaned and disinfected their cooling towers.
They also are considering a series of changes to try to prevent future
outbreaks. Among them are requiring building owners to test for
Legionella every 30 days instead of the current 90-days and increasing
the fines for violations for failure to comply with local cooling tower
regulations.
Friday's announcement came a day after a seventh person, who died
earlier this month, was deemed a part of cluster.
A number of survivors, meanwhile, have already sued over the outbreak.
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 Lawyers representing two workers at
the impacted construction site have said they believe untreated
rainwater from recent storms in the cooling towers led to the
outbreak.
Ron Katter, a lawyer representing two other
victims, said the Friday announcement was “too little, too late.”
“These deaths and sickness were preventable. Obviously, the city's
cooling tower laws are not effective," he said, noting that Harlem
Hospital was linked to a Legionnaires’ outbreak in 2021.
The health department declined to comment Friday on the litigation.
Legionnaires’ disease is a type of pneumonia that is caused by
Legionella bacteria, which thrives in warm water and typically
spreads through contaminated mist.
Medical investigators have linked past city outbreaks to public
fountains, air conditioning systems, spas, showers and even the
misters than keep fruit moist in supermarkets. People simply walking
by can get infected inhaling the mist, which can travel up to a
mile, under some conditions.
City and state officials in 2015 enacted regulations requiring
building cooling towers be regularly registered, tested and
inspected following a deadly outbreak in the city.
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Shipkowski reported from Trenton, New Jersey.
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