New York City's mayor declared an outbreak of bacteria that cause the potentially deadly Legionnaires' disease had been contained, even as he acknowledged the scope of the outbreak meant the city "was literally in uncharted territory."
Ten people have died in the largest Legionnaires' outbreak in city history. Seven more reported cases of the disease have been reported in New York, bringing the total to 108, though officials expressed confidence that the outbreak was subsiding.
"We can say with confidence that this outbreak has been contained," said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The South Bronx remained ground zero for the outbreak, as the bacteria have now been found in a total of 10 buildings. But health officials believe that the people who have grown ill were exposed at one of five buildings where bacteria was originally detected in their cooling towers, normally rooftop equipment used to cool large, and usually modern, structures.
The disease is a form of pneumonia caused by breathing in mist contaminated with the Legionella bacteria and is considered particularly dangerous for the elderly and for people with underlying health issues. It is not clear what triggered this outbreak, which began last month.
De Blasio revealed Saturday that five additional Bronx buildings tested positive for the bacteria, including two courthouses, a post office and a high school. All five buildings have already had their cooling towers cleaned and do not appear to pose any danger to locals, health officials said.
Teams from both the city and the state scrambled to identify which buildings in the Bronx have the towers; prior to this outbreak, no city records were kept as to which buildings had cooling towers. De Blasio said of the 161 cooling towers located so far in the affected area of the Bronx, 36 have already been inspected and disinfected.
Fifty-seven more were to be inspected and disinfected by the end of Saturday while the remaining 42 were slated to be done by the end of the weekend. Twenty-six buildings on the city's list did not actually have cooling towers, de Blasio said.
The state also sent 150 trained workers to test cooling towers — some in the affected zone, others elsewhere in the Bronx — a day after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the state's sudden, muscular intervention into the crisis by saying "we're taking matters into our own hands."
That assertion led to yet another chapter in the simmering feud between Cuomo and de Blasio, both Democrats. Even as health officials in both administrations pledged to co-ordinate their efforts, aides to both men sniped at each other in the press and de Blasio bristled Saturday when asked about the governor's claim to be leading the effort.
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.