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The latest on NYC’s Legionnaires’ disease outbreak: symptoms, cases
Amethyst MartinezUSA TODAY NETWORK
July 14, 2026, 11:25 a.m. ET
The Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Manhattan’s Upper East Side “appears to be slowing” after several cooling towers in the area tested positive for Legionella bacteria, officials say
Mark Levine, NYC’s comptroller, announced 31 buildings in the UES that had infected cooling towers
Here’s what to know
What is Legionnaires’ Disease, and how does it spread?
Legionnaires’ disease is a type of pneumonia that comes from bacteria growth in warm water, the NYC health department said. People are at risk of getting Legionnaires’ disease if they breathe in water vapor contaminated with the bacteria
The agency emphasized that residents cannot get it through drinking water, cooking or from using AC units, and Legionnaires’ disease is not contagious
If multiple people become infected within a neighborhood, a typicallth wrote on its website. On July 10, Levine released the addresses of 31 buildings with cooling towers that tested positive with Legionella bacteria, and said that all were to be disinfected
“A positive PCR test result does not confirm that a building is the Legionella bacteria but cannot determine whether the bacteria are alive or dead. Only live Legionella bacteria can cause illness,” he wrote on X
“Health Dept is conducting culture testing on every cooling tower sampled. Those results take up to two weeks and will help investigators determine whether any of the cooling towers had live Legionella growing at the time the sample was taken.”
Latest on Legionnaires’ in Upper East Side
As of late July 13, there were 60 cases of Legionnaires’ Disease in the community cluster. Out of those cases, 15 were hospitalized, 34 were discharged, and 11 were not hospitalized. No one has died from the current cluster yet
The affected ZIP codes of the cluster include 10028, 10128 and 10075
“Good news: The pace of new cases in the Upper East Side Legionnaires cluster appears to be slowing,” Levine said on X Monday night. “This likely means the
The comptroller did note that there is a delay from exposure to illness, which could bring more cases in the coming days
What are the symptoms?
Those who were in the area are encouraged to look out for flu-like symptoms. According to the Mayo Clinic, Legionnaires’ disease can present itself in the following ways:
- headaches and muscle aches
- fever
- coughing and shortness of breath
- chest pain
- nausea
- confusion
