Bronx News Archives

June 2, 2022 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Confirmed Cases of Legionnaires’ Disease Jumps to 24 in Bronx Outbreak

Following the diagnosis of ten confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease in the Highbridge section of the Bronx earlier this month, city health officials have now confirmed that the number of confirmed cases is now up to 24. So far, two people have died and four are hospitalized. Legionnaires’ Disease is a type of pneumonia that grows in warm water. The illness can be a result of plumbing systems such as cooling towers, spas, hot tubs, and hot water tanks. The Health Department began a remediation process last week for four cooling towers in Highbridge that tested positive…

November 6, 2018 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Connecting the Dots-Second Washington Heights Outbreak Is Just The Tip of The Iceberg

Connecting the dots is part of what this blog is all about. You may remember that significant regulations were passed in New York City in 2015 because of the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease (see my blog of October 25, 2018). Unfortunately, these regulations are not being properly enforced by the city health department. As a result, 90% of the cooling tower cases heard by an administrative agency charged with enforcing the regulations have been dismissed. This is despite the fact that there has been 65% increase in Legionnaires’ disease cases from 2016 to 2017. Even Mayor De Blasio has criticized…

October 25, 2018 zacherlaw 0 Comments

New York City Admits Still Does Not Know Where All Cooling Towers Are

New York City Council enacted a law in 2015 after a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the Bronx. The law requires that every cooling tower in New York City be identified, registered and inspected on a regular basis. The city has admitted recently that it is not sure it has found all cooling towers, three years after the legislation was passed (the city health department uses experts on the street and satellite imagery to find cooling towers). This failure to even identify all cooling towers takes on added significance after one remembers that there have been two recent outbreaks…

October 17, 2018 zacherlaw 0 Comments

New York State Regulation of Legionella-A Real Step Forward

As promised, this blog will cover US legislative attempts to control the bacteria legionella that causes Legionnaires’ disease. While many states have requirements as to the amount of residual chlorine that must be present in spas, no state has legislation to curtail legionella in cooling towers than New York. Unfortunately, the New York legislation does not cover the potable water system (showers, faucets, holding tanks, etc.) in a building, or any water feature such as a lobby fountain. This is completely different from the approach taken in the UK as explained in an earlier blog, which is national in nature…

January 23, 2018 zacherlaw 0 Comments

New York Posts Record High Year for Cases of Legionnaires’ Disease

In August of 2015, 133 Bronx residents contracted Legionnaires’ disease, an outbreak which ultimately resulted in the death of 16 individuals. This incident would be the worst recorded outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in New York state’s history however now, more than two years later, New York continues to show problems as 2017 posts a record number of cases, including a far larger rate of Legionnaires’ disease than just about every other state per capita. New York once again led the United States for reported cases of Legionnaires’ disease in 2017 with a total of 1,009 cases reported to the CDC. And far from the situation improving, this rate of…

September 6, 2017 zacherlaw 0 Comments

NY Dept. of Health, Tests water at Rego Park Building for Legionella

A “Notice to Tenants” was posted in the lobby of Hampton House at 93-10 Queens Boulevard, advising residents that the agency is working with the building management to test the water for legionella, the Legionnaires’ disease causing bacteria. This comes after multiple Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks in the NYC area. Since 2015, Legionnaires’ disease has sickened 120 people and killed 12 in the nation’s economic capital. If you believe you or someone you know has been diagnosed with this disease, Contact us to see what we can do to help. Jules Zacher is an attorney in Philadelphia who has tried Legionnaires’ disease cases…

June 13, 2017 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Police Officer contracts Legionnaires’ Disease; Legionella found in NYC Police Station

An unidentified East Harlem police officer has been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ Disease. This diagnosis prompted NYC Department of Health officials to investigate the source of this illness. Following an investigation, Department of Health officials stated that Legionella, the Legionnaires’ Disease causing bacteria, was found in the workplace of the officer. This comes after an outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease killed 12 people and sickened 128 others in the South Bronx section of New York City in the Summer of 2015. For more information about the Legionnaires’ Disease case involving the police click here to red a New York Times article. If you…

April 10, 2017 zacherlaw 0 Comments

4 Cancer Patients Contracted Legionnaires’ Disease at a New York Cancer Facility in 2015

According to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court in Early April, four cancer patients staying at the Hope Lodge, an American Cancer Society facility that temporarily houses cancer patients, contracted Legionnaires Disease in early 2015. Of the four cases, Joan Pederson, a 62 year old brain cancer patient was the first and only recorded death associated with the outbreak. Pederson had to stop treatment for her brain cancer for weeks in order to receive treatment for her Legionnaires’ Disease. This outbreak was overshadowed by the much larger, concurrent Bronx outbreaks in which more than 100 people were affected, and…

March 7, 2017 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Erin Brockovich Sounds Alarm About Legionella in Public Water Systems

Last month, famed environmental activist Erin Brockovich and the Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires’ Disease joined forces in Albany to draw attention to the continued rise of Legionnaires’ cases in New York even after the deadly 2014-2015 outbreaks in the Bronx. According to the report released by the Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires’ Disease, New York State leads the nation in Legionnaires’ cases. The report estimates that in 2016 14% of all U.S cases of Legionnaires’ Disease occurred in New York. The report states that the state’s regulatory focus on water cooling towers neglects what they consider to be the real problem. The…

November 16, 2016 zacherlaw 0 Comments

Two tenants of a Morris Heights building diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease

On Monday night, tenants of 1600 Sedgwick Ave in Morris Heights came home to a letter from the New York City Department of Health, notifying them that two tenants of the building had tested positive for Legionnaires’ disease. The two cases of Legionnaires’ disease were diagnosed about 12 months apart from each other. The New York City Department of Health held a meeting at the Sedgwick Ave building Monday night, and indicated that they are in the process of testing the building’s water supply as a possible source of the Legionella bacteria that caused these two cases. In the meantime,…