The fatal disease produces symptoms of fever, cough, chills, muscle aches and other signs, being a type of severe pneumonia. In some people, primarily those who are already immunocompromised, the disease can cause death. It is is not spread from person to person but by breathing in mist with the organisms. An estimated 8,000 to 18,000 people in the U.S. are hospitalized each year due to Legionnaires’ disease. The contaminated cooling towers were disinfected. “We hope that there are no more cases, and certainly hope no more deaths, but do expect additional cases simply because there could be people who may have been infected before the cooling towers were cleaned,” Jay Varma, deputy commissioner for disease control, told to the media. New legislation would be announced next week to fight the disease, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio revealed on Monday. Some regulated inspections for prevention will be included. Legionnaires’ disease is treated with antibiotics lasting around three weeks.
