Legionnaires' Disease Found at Co-op City; Eight Sickened

The New York City Health Department said investigators were working to confirm tests that indicated the cooling towers of Co-op City in the Bronx sickened at least eight people with Legionnaires' disease.

"When you find it in a cooling tower, you are concerned about it because cooling towers give off a mist and people can breath that mist in and become sick," said Dr. Sharon Butler, an epidemiologist with the agency.

The health department tested the towers, which cool the development's heating and electrical network, after seeing a spike in cases in December. Preliminary results on Friday were positive for the bacteria that causes the disease. Co-op City's property manager, River Bay Corporation, began disinfecting the cooling system with chlorine on Saturday. 

The development's drinking water is not affected.

Legionnaires' disease is a type of pneumonia that forms in water. It infects individuals when they breathe in mist from contaminated water. Symptoms include fever, chills and muscle aches, but Dr. Balter said it's easy to test and treat. It cannot be spread person-to-person.

"It doesn't make everyone sick. The people who are at greatest risk are generally people who are older, people who smoke, people who have underlying lung disease or other underlying medical conditions," Dr. Balter said.

Dr. Balter encouraged those with symptoms to seek medical treatment. 

The health department organized an informational meeting with residents for Tuesday night. The agency is also testing surrounding cooling towers to see if they were affected.