Three residents of a senior living facility in Albany, New York, have died after testing positive for Legionnaires’ disease.
The Albany County Department of Health was notified of a Legionnaires’ outbreak at Peregrine Senior Living at Shaker on Friday where 10 people tested positive, in addition to the three who died.
Since the outbreak, 20 people have been hospitalized.
Kristyn Ganim, executive director of Peregrine, said in a statement that staff is working with the local and state health departments “to safeguard everyone within the community since learning of the exposure.”
“Since that time, we have installed advanced water filters in as many locations as possible, including in designated bathing and showering locations,” she said.
“We are rapidly sourcing and installing these filters in each of our resident apartments, along with one of the best water source treatment systems available for our entire resident community. This is an extra layer of protection that is not commonly utilized in most communities similar to ours, but one that we feel is paramount to best protecting our residents.”
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Ganim said the incident has been “truly heartbreaking for our community.”
The Epoch Times contacted the Albany County Department of Health for more information.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Legionnaires’ disease is a kind of pneumonia caused by the Legionella bacteria.
People can contract the disease by inhaling the mist that carries the bacteria.
It can take two to 14 days after exposure for symptoms to develop.
The symptoms include coughing, fever, headaches, muscle aches, diarrhea, nausea, confusion, and shortness of breath.
The New York State Department of Health said on its website that between 200 and 800 cases have been reported in New York state annually, with the majority being “single isolated events” that don’t turn into outbreaks.
Rigorous maintenance of water systems is key to preventing Legionella growth, the department said.
2022 Outbreak in California
In 2022, there was a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak linked to a water system in Napa County, California, that caused one death.The Napa County Public Health (NCPH) department confirmed 17 cases of the disease. Among those 17 cases, 16 were hospitalized, and 10 were admitted to the intensive care unit.
Five patients required intubation and mechanical ventilation. One patient died, the NCPH reported.
CDC officials connected the source of the bacterial infections to water plant cooling towers that had been poorly serviced, leading to a contamination of the area’s tap water supply.
“Visual inspection, review of records, and sampling of devices within the high-risk zone revealed a lack of maintenance at most cooling towers,” the CDC report said. “Many had low or no detectable chlorine at the time of sampling, because of lack of routine biocide application, improper distribution methods, or other problems with the system.”
The Associated Press and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
