Summer is the time for family vacations and idyllic thoughts
of travelling to new destinations.
Reality generally includes squabbles with your spouse or significant
other and your ungrateful and often whiny children repeatedly asking ‘are we
there yet?” or stating “I want to go home so I can play with my friends”. New York City or NYC is definitely one of the
those places that many summer vacationers flock to, but this summer some people
may be considering alternative plans in light of the fact that NYC (or at least
The South Bronx) has been experiencing a Legionella outbreak since early July.
To date 12 people have died and more than 120 people have
been diagnosed with the infection caused by bacteria breathed in with
contaminated water droplets. The NYC Health
Department has been actively investigating and is testing water from cooling
towers and other potential sources in the area to determine the source of the
outbreak. New Yorkers with respiratory
symptoms, such as fever, cough, chills and muscle aches, are urged to promptly
seek medical attention. Thankfully, Legionnaires' disease
cannot be spread from person to person. Groups
at high risk for Legionnaire’s disease include people who are middle-aged or
older, especially cigarette smokers and people with chronic lung disease or
weakened immune systems.
Warm
temperatures can help the bacteria to thrive,
so to contain the outbreak the city's health department ordered that all
buildings with cooling towers be tested within the
next two weeks and any that are contaminated must
be disinfected. Within the “hot zone”, 111 sites have tested
positive and 6 sites outside of the “hot zone” have also been confirmed
positive. As a result of not knowing
what buildings have cooling towers city council
approved new regulations to force building owners to register and inspect
their cooling towers. The law requires
building owners to register all existing cooling towers within 30 days and any
new cooling tower must be registered before it is used on the property. The
city will also require quarterly inspections of all cooling towers and owners
will be required to develop and implement a maintenance plan in line with the
current engineering standards to prevent bacterial contamination. If they do not comply they could face fines
of up to $5,000.
Thankfully, since
August 3rd, no new cases have been confirmed.
Outbreaks of Legionella
are not new. The first known outbreak
occurred in 1976 when many people who went to a Philadelphia convention of the
American Legion suffered from this disease...hence the name Legionnaires’
disease. This summer’s NYC outbreak
should serve to remind us that infection prevention needs to be part of our
daily routine and not just something that gets addressed when an outbreak hits
the news. This is not the first time
cooling towers have been implemented in such an outbreak. Was NYC behind the times in having
regulations in place to ensure a maintenance and inspection program or are they
now ahead of the curve? I suppose it
will take the next outbreak for us to find out!
Bugging Off!
Nicole
