A second person has died amid a legionnaires’ disease outbreak that has sickened dozens of people in New York City, according to officials, who also say there is evidence that the source of the outbreak “has likely been eliminated”.
New York City’s health department served notice of the second death in a statement on Saturday. The statement didn’t have any information about that person’s identity, age, or details on when and how they fell ill, as was the case when city officials on Friday announced the first death in the outbreak on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
It also didn’t specify the exact source of the outbreak, which as of Saturday had sickened at least 72 people, including nine people who remained hospitalized and 50 who had been discharged from the hospital.
Nonetheless, a statement attributed to the New York City health commissioner, Dr Alister F Martin, said there was “encouraging” data suggesting that “an aggressive strategy of testing, enforcement and remediation” aimed at air-conditioning systems atop many large buildings “appears to have stopped the source of exposure”.
Those systems can release water vapor carrying the bacteria.
“We directed every building with an initial positive test result to immediately clean and disinfect its cooling tower, and every one has completed that work,” Martin’s statement said. “We have also reminded cooling tower operators across the city of their summertime requirement to increase use of biocides that kill” the Legionalla bacteria that causes legionnaires’ disease.
City officials took those measures after two people on 2 July were confirmed to have been infected with legionnaires’ disease, which is a form of pneumonia. The agency confirmed an average of more than eight new cases daily through 8 July.
The number of new cases then dropped to fewer than one daily from 10 to 17 July.
“We will continue inspecting every cooling tower that tested positive and will hold accountable any owner who fails to comply with our public health laws,” Martin’s statement said.
According to the city, tests identified either living or dead Legionella bacteria in cooling towers on more than 75 Upper East Side buildings. They include museums, private schools and apartment houses.
The statement also expressed condolences to those grieving the people who have died amid the outbreak.
Legionnaires’ disease is treatable but kills about 10% of patients, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The bacteria that causes the sickness grow in warm water and can proliferate in cooling towers, hot tubs and showerheads.
People can contract cases of legionnaires’ disease by inhaling tiny droplets of contaminated water. It doesn’t spread person to person.
In August 2025, seven people died and more than 100 were sickened during a legionnaires’ disease outbreak in New York’s Harlem neighborhood.
New York’s health department says the disease was named legionnaire’s after a 1976 outbreak of the sickness in Philadelphia largely affected people attending a state convention of the American Legion, the war veterans’ non-profit organization.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
