Legionnaires’ disease has caused a second death in Niagara County, state health officials report. County Public Health Director Daniel Stapleton stated that the second victim had “underlying health conditions”, but no specific information about the patient has yet been released. Eight cases of Legionnaires’ disease have been reported in Lockport, NY The first death was that of a man who lived near the Eastern Niagara Hospital. A cooling tower on hospital property was recently found to have elevated levels of Legionella bacteria. Routine state-mandated tests revealed the colony of bacteria in the cooling tower in September. The hospital sanitized and retested the tower, finding that the colony had been eliminated. The county has now ordered that every cooling tower within a two-mile radius of the hospital be tested for Legionella as a precautionary measure. Health officials report that all eight patients affection by Legionnaires’ disease had compromised immune systems. Sixteen cases of Legionnaires’ disease have been reported all year in Niagara County, twelve of which officials are considering associated with this outbreak. More information is available here. Jules Zacher is an attorney in Philadelphia who has tried Legionnaires’ disease cases across the U.S. Please visit LegionnaireLawyer.com again for updates.
Update: second death caused by NY outbreak was last modified: October 28th, 2016 by