Legionnaires' Disease Bacteria Found in Bronx Hospital Water Supply - the Bronx is 90% Black & Latino
/The bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease was found in the water supply of Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx — sparking extreme water restrictions at the 450-bed hospital.
Small outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease have been popping up in the Bronx and upper Manhattan over the past year, officials noted. The Bronx is 90% non-white (54.3% Latino and 43.7% Black) and has the lowest percentage of Whites among all boroughs. [like the rest of the world] [MORE]
A person died of Legionnaires’ disease this month after an outbreak in Washington Heights, they said.
The patient, described as older than 50 but not further identified, had other risk factors that potentially compromised his or her health.
Washington Heights has seen 18 cases of the disease, the city Health Department says.
Legionnaires’ disease is a form of pneumonia caused by the legionella bacteria, which grows in warm water. It’s not transmitted from person to person, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
People usually contract the disease by breathing water vapor containing the bacteria, which can spread through plumbing systems. [MORE]
