A new cholera outbreak in Sudan has killed over 170 people in a week, officials say
The bulk of the cases were reported in the capital, Khartoum, and its twin city of Omdurman, but cholera was also detected in the provinces of North Kordofan, Sennar, Gazira, White Nile and Nile River, health officials said.
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CBS News
43 minutes ago
- CBS News
2 lawsuits filed in deadly Harlem Legionnaires' disease outbreak, which has sickened more than 100
Two separate lawsuits have been filed over the deadly Legionnaires' disease outbreak in Harlem. Both lawsuits claim construction companies failed to protect workers from unsafe conditions that led to the spread of the disease. Both complaints say the companies were responsible for maintaining cooling towers that became filled with untreated rainwater after July storms, creating ideal conditions of Legionella bacteria to grow. Legionella bacteria grows in warm, stagnant water and spreads through mist in the air. There is no person-to-person transmission. Symptoms of the disease can resemble the flu and include cough, fever, chills, muscle aches and shortness of breath. It can take up to two weeks for symptoms to show up. At-risk groups include people over 50 and smokers. The first lawsuit names Rising Sun Construction LLC, based in New Jersey. Construction worker Duane Headley said he contracted Legionnaires' disease while working at the Harlem Hospital complex. Headley was hospitalized, and is still recovering. The second lawsuit is against Skanska USA Building, Inc., headquartered in Manhattan. Worker Nunzio Quinto claims he was exposed to Legionella while employed at a site next to Harlem Hospital - the New York City Public Health Laboratory project at 40 West 137th Street. He was hospitalized, as well, and is undergoing rehabilitation. "No energy, and unable to do anything. I am finally starting to get up and walk around a little bit now. I can do basic things. The thing is, I just want answers to what's going on. I can't have a safe place to work? This is New York City," Quinto said. The plaintiffs are seeking damages for medical costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering. CBS News New York has reached out to Rising Sun Construction and Skanska USA. So far, neither has had any official comment as yet. So far, five people have died in the outbreak, according to the New York City Department of Health. There have been more than 100 cases. Legionnaires' disease is a potentially deadly form of pneumonia. This outbreak was traced to 12 cooling towers at 10 buildings in Central Harlem, including four that are city-run. All of the towers have since been disinfected, officials said. The outbreak prompted city officials to propose stricter rules around cooling towers in order to boost testing and reporting requirements. The new rules would also impose penalties to whoever does not comply. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running for mayor, called on the state's Department of Heath to investigate how New York City handled the outbreak. "Confidence in government is paramount, and New Yorkers deserve to know if the City followed its own rules to prevent this deadly outbreak," Cuomo said. "The last time we confronted a Legionnaires' outbreak of this scale, we not only moved heaven and earth to stop it, we put in place tough new protocols to prevent it from happening again. With the City now serving as both the regulator and the landlord for many of the affected buildings, there is an inherent conflict of interest. Only an independent review can determine whether the right steps were taken – or whether City inaction made a bad situation worse." Mamdani, the frontrunner in the mayoral race, also criticized the city's response, writing on social media "The City has been far too slow to release detailed information to residents."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Deadly NYC Legionnaires' disease outbreak fueled by negligence, lawsuit says
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump has filed lawsuits against two construction companies over what he called a "completely preventable" outbreak of Legionnaires' disease that has killed five people and sickened more than 100 others in New York City. Legionnaires' disease is a severe pneumonia caused by a type of bacteria called Legionella, which grows in warm or hot water, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An outbreak of the disease, which began on July 25, has been clustered across five zip codes in Central Harlem. The city health department said the outbreak is linked to cooling towers, heat exchangers that use fans and water to cool down buildings. On Aug. 14, health officials confirmed that 12 cooling towers at buildings including NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem tested positive for the Legionella bacteria. Crump and other attorneys filed complaints on behalf of two construction workers who were hospitalized with Legionnaire's disease in July after working near the hospital in Harlem, according to a news release. Crump said the legal team has also filed a notice of claim and intend to sue the city as well. "It is believed that the cooling towers at Harlem Hospital were filled with rainwater after several large July storms," the release said. "The water was left untreated, which permitted bacteria to spread causing workers at the site to become sick." Construction companies, city accused of negligence Crump accused Skanska USA Building, Inc., Rising Sun Construction LLC and the city of negligence at a news conference on Aug. 20, announcing the lawsuits. The attorneys said the construction companies were put on notice about the possibility of Legionella bacteria through bulletins after the storms, but failed to take action to keep those working near the hospital safe. "When corporations cut corners, tragedies like this happen. Preventable tragedies, unnecessary tragedies," Crump said. Crump said the lawsuit is seeking not only compensation for the workers but also accountability and answers about why this outbreak occurred in Harlem — a historically Black neighborhood in Upper Manhattan. Skanska and Rising Sun did not immediatedly respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY. When asked about Crump's claims about the source of the outbreak, a spokesperson for the city's health department said the investigation is ongoing. "Molecular testing may help us determine which cooling tower — or cooling towers — were the source of the bacteria in the Central Harlem cluster," spokesperson Chantal Gomez said in a statement. "The Public Health Lab is still determining a match through DNA sequencing and we expect final results soon.' Electrian describes gasping for air while hospitalized with Legionnaire's Nunzio Quinto, a union electrian who worked at a ground-up construction of the NewYork City Public Health Laboratory, a 10-story facility adjacent to the hospital complex, said he thought he had food poisoning when he first started feeling lethargic in late July. Quinto said his family took him to the hospital, where he was immediately diagnosed with Legionnaire's disease. He suffered breathing problems, pain and internal bleeding during a five-day stay in the hospital, but said his coworkers weren't notified of his illness. "I want answers to what's going on. I can't have a safe place to work? This is New York City," Quinto said at the news conference. Contributing: Thao Nguyen This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lawsuit blames Legionnaires' disease outbreak on negligence
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
NYC identifies more cases, death in large Legionnaires' disease outbreak. What to know.
NEW YORK − Health officials are still finding cases in one of the city's largest Legionnaires' disease outbreaks in years as they continue monitoring Harlem cooling towers suspected of sickening more than a hundred people. On Aug. 19, New York City health officials identified a fifth person died before mid-August from the central Harlem outbreak of Legionnaires' disease, which is a severe type of pneumonia. Since the outbreak began in late July, 108 people have been identified as sickened, according to the New York City health department. The outbreak is concentrated across five ZIP codes in central Harlem, a historically Black neighborhood in Manhattan. New cases continue to decline as officials remediate cooling towers suspected to harbor the Legionella bacteria that causes the disease. When was the last large Legionnaires' outbreak in NYC? The health department identifies cases each year, sometimes resulting in death. The city saw its largest recent outbreak in 2015. Then, 138 cases and 16 deaths were linked to a single cooling tower in the South Bronx, just across the Harlem River from the Harlem neighborhood. A more recent outbreak in 2022 in the Bronx's Highbridge neighborhood saw 30 people sickened, a city health department report said. Decades earlier, a large outbreak in Pennsylvania gave Legionnaires' disease its name. In 1976, an outbreak at an American Legion veterans organization state convention in a Philadelphia hotel infected 180 people and killed 29. How does Legionnaires' disease spread? The bacteria − found naturally in freshwater − grows in warm or hot water, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease doesn't spread between people, but from mist containing bacteria that people inhale, city health officials said. Without maintenance, water systems, such as hot tubs, cooling towers, hot water tanks or big plumbing systems give the bacteria ideal places to grow. CDC estimates nine in 10 outbreaks were caused by preventable problems with effective water management. In New York, officials suspect a dozen cooling towers, used atop 10 larger buildings to control the temperature of cooling systems using fans and water as heat exchangers, caused the current outbreak. The cooling towers sprayed mist containing from the tops of buildings. Legionnaires' disease doesn't spread by drinking water, or from cooled air from air conditioners. Window AC units, ubiquitous on many buildings in New York, also aren't a risk for bacterial growth, since they don't use water to cool the air. City health officials have sampled and tested water from the cooling towers and treated affected buildings in the five ZIP codes (10027, 10030, 10035, 10037 and 10039). How do you know you have Legionnaires' disease? Most people exposed to the bacteria don't develop Legionnaires' disease. The risk to most people in central Harlem ZIP codes is low, but people who live or work in the area and have flu-like symptoms are urged to seek care right away, city health officials said in an Aug. 6 notice to residents. As a severe form of pneumonia, symptoms include fever, chills, muscle aches and cough, city health officials said. People can also get headaches, fatigue, loss of appetite, confusion or diarrhea. Symptoms develop between two and 10 days after exposure, but it can be up to two weeks. People at higher risk include those ages 50 and older, smokers, have chronic lung disease and have weakened immune systems from a condition or medication. Possible complications can include lung failure and death, with about one in 10 people who get sick dying from the disease due to complications from illness, CDC said. The disease is easily treatable with antibiotics. If people develop symptoms, they should seek medical care right away. What is risk ahead? With hotter, more humid temperatures in a warming climate, Legionnaires' disease is a growing health concern. CDC data shows the condition is becoming more common in recent decades. In New York, outbreaks tend to oscillate between predominantly lower income Black and Latino neighborhoods, a former health official previously told USA TODAY. Contributing: Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY Eduardo Cuevas is a reporter for USA TODAY based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@ or on Signal at emcuevas.01. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Large Legionnaires' disease outbreak continues in NYC
