NYC Legionnaire’s outbreak linked to historic hotel
The deadly outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease in New York is over, health officials say, with a historic Bronx hotel finally confirmed as the source of the outbreak.
The strain found in 25 people who contracted the disease, some of whom died, came from the cooling tower of the Opera House Hotel, said health commissioner Mary Bassett.
"We eliminated the danger posed by the Opera House Hotel’s cooling tower as soon as it tested positive for disease-causing Legionella," said Bassett.
Today, all cooling towers in the affected area have been disinfected, and all cooling towers across the city are being evaluated and disinfected if necessary."
The disease caused the deaths of 12 people and sickened more than 100 in the last month.
The South Bronx hotel dates back over 100 years and hosted performances by Harry Houdini, the Marx Brothers and George Burns in the past.
The hotel’s cooling tower is just two years old and has been routinely cleaned since learning it was a possible source for the outbreak.
The city enacted new laws as a direct result of the outbreak requiring testing of all cooling towers every 90 days, although the hotel said it will test its cooling system every month.
"Given the recent events, we have decided to be especially cautious going forward," the hotel said.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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