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Legionnaires' Disease Outbreak on the Decline, City Says

By  Eddie Small and Jeff Mays | August 7, 2015 4:57pm | Updated on August 9, 2015 10:39pm

 The worst Legionnaires' disease outbreak in city history appears to be on the decline, health officials said.
The worst Legionnaires' disease outbreak in city history appears to be on the decline, health officials said.
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DNAinfo/Eddie Small

THE BRONX — Top health officials said on Friday that the worst Legionnaires' disease outbreak in city history was on the decline, but the state still plans to start sending more people to The Bronx to help test additional cooling towers.

So far, the Legionnaires' disease outbreak has killed 10 and sickened a total of 101 people in the South Bronx,  City Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said.

"We are very heartened by the continued decline in occurrences of cases," Bassett said. "This is the smallest number that we’ve seen since this epidemic began."

The city has identified cooling towers at Lincoln Hospital, Concourse Plaza, the Opera House Hotel, Streamline Plastic Co. and a Verizon office building as the likely sources of the outbreak, and the purpose of sending state workers to the city is to expand the size and scale of the inspection effort.

The state is still working to determine the exact number of people it will be sending to The Bronx, and it will also begin reviewing its health regulations with an eye towards issuing more stringent rules to help prevent future outbreaks, Zucker said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the Centers for Disease Control, which he invited in after speaking with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., would visit the borough over the weekend. State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said teams from the state will also deploy teams to expedite testing.

"They’ll see teams; they’ll see people going out," said Cuomo who added that he hoped the actions would reduce anxiety.

"It is almost like a bad science fiction movie," he added about the outbreak.

Cuomo said he expected there would be "statewide regulations" as a result of the outbreak.

He cited the fact that no one knew where all the cooling towers, were located.

"We are going through an exercise now where we are literally going building by building to identify the cooling towers. There is not register of cooling towers," said Cuomo.

The towers provide cooling for a buildings' air conditioning systems but can spread the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease as the water is heated and cooled and turns to mist.

The city of New Rochelle in Westchester County requires all cooling towers to be registered, said Cuomo.

The city is expected to introduce legislation next week addressing the registration and regular disinfection of cooling towers. On Thursday, Bassett issued an order requiring all city cooling towers to be inspected and disinfected within 14 days.

The governor said he had spoken directly with Mayor Bill de Blasio about the outbreak. The two men have had an ongoing public feud and have publicly disagreed on policies in the past.

"Yes, we are fully coordinated on every level. Our health commissioners are working together," said Cuomo.

Asked about whether the city had properly handled the outbreak, Cuomo declined to comment.

"I don’t think I am in a position to say or judge, I don’t know what exactly they did or plan and I am not a health professional. I know that from my point of view this situation became critical," said Cuomo. "The borough president was very eloquent frankly in explaining the anxiety among people."

Bassett said during a telephone town hall with Bronx residents Friday that the city was "optimistic that we've seen the worst of this outbreak and that our remediation efforts are having an impact."

Emergency department visits for pneumonia have gone down and the city has not seen any newly sick people in the past week, according to Bassett.

However, she said the city was still happy to be receiving further assistance in its cleaning efforts.

"I am really grateful that we’re going to have help in continuing to ensure that we found every cooling tower in the South Bronx and ensure that it’s cleaned," she said.

Dr. Claressa Lucas of the Centers for Disease Control said the city's response had been typical for most outbreak situations.

"I think they have done a very good job in mobilizing their resources and reaching out to their partners for overflow. I think they’re taking this very seriously," she said.