SOUTH BRONX — A man who tested positive for the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease was memorialized Thursday, a week after his death at a low-income housing facility where at least three other residents may have also been sickened by the disease, sources said.
Walter James, 69, was remembered at The Brook, on East 148th Street, a supportive and low-income housing building next to the Opera House Hotel, where inspectors found legionella bacteria last week, according to city health officials.
At least three other residents have been hospitalized over the past week with pneumonia-like symptoms, but these have not been officially been confirmed as Legionnaires' cases, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
Jenniabell Moore, 51, who lives at The Brook, said she came down with Legionnaires' disease last week.
"I felt terrible," she said. "I had a headache and fever and chills."
She received antibiotics and has since recovered, but the experience was frightening, she said.
"I was scared," she said. "I’m glad God was on my side. He helped me through."
According to city health officials, 10 people have died from the Legionnaires' outbreak, which began on July 10, and about 100 have been infected.
It is unclear if James, who a source said tested positive for legionella in his urine, died of the disease. The city Medical Examiner's office said the cause and manner of his death was undetermined, pending further testing.
It was unclear if James has family nearby and city officials said they have not been able to track down any of his relatives. Residents of the building said he had not been living there very long and mostly kept to himself.
The Brook opened in 2010 and was the first construction project in The Bronx for Common Ground, an organization that works to address chronic homelessness in New York.
It is meant for low-income working individuals and formerly homeless single adults, many of whom are living with HIV/AIDS or mental illnesses, and support services at the site are provided by BronxWorks.
People with weakened immune systems due to such illnesses as HIV or cancer tend to be more at risk of getting Legionnaires' disease.
The city believes the outbreak was caused by cooling towers at Lincoln Hospital, the Opera House Hotel, Concourse Plaza, Streamline Plastic Co. and a Verizon office building that were found to be infected with the bacteria that causes the disease.
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The city is now working to draft legislation that would require all cooling towers in New York to be registered and regularly inspected for legionella. It should be introduced later this week.
Willie Thomas, a 51-year-old who also lives in The Brook, said it was very upsetting to see his neighbors come down with Legionnaires' disease, as many of them arrived at the building with health problems but had been working to improve themselves.
"They're back to the way I met them when they arrived in here," he said. "The weight loss, the drowsiness, the headaches. They're not themselves right now."
