NEW YORK − Health officials are still finding cases in one of the city's largest Legionnaires' disease outbreaks in years as they continue monitoring Harlem cooling towers suspected of sickening more than a hundred people.
On Aug. 19, New York City health officials identified a fifth person died before mid-August from the central Harlem outbreak of Legionnaires' disease, which is a severe type of pneumonia. Since the outbreak began in late July, 108 people have been identified as sickened, according to the New York City health department.
The outbreak is concentrated across five ZIP codes in central Harlem, a historically Black neighborhood in Manhattan.
New cases continue to decline as officials remediate cooling towers suspected to harbor the Legionella bacteria that causes the disease.
The health department identifies cases each year, sometimes resulting in death.
