USA TODAY, NEW YORK − Air conditioning has been a lifesaver in recent weeks for broad swaths of Americans left sweating ‒ and worse ‒ from scorching temperatures.
But in parts of upper Manhattan, the quest for cool air has led to disease and death.
As large air conditioning systems blew cool air into apartments, the bacteria hitched rides on the warm air they spewed out, in the other direction, into the Harlem skyline.
Since July 25, at least 67 people in five ZIP codes have inhaled that bacteria and developed what’s called Legionnaires’ disease. Twenty-four were hospitalized and three have died.
It’s already the largest outbreak in New York City in a decade, and health officials expect the number of infections to rise.
City workers have already sampled all cooling towers in the five ZIP codes and treated the contaminated ones, Mayor Eric Adams said in a video update.
Disease more common as cities warm
Legionnaires’ disease was once rare. It was named for a veterans organization whose members were sickened in a Philadelphia hotel.
In recent decades, however, it has steadily become more common nationwide, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There has been a ninefold increase since 2000, and research shows that hotter, more humid temperatures in a warming climate have contributed to a rise in Legionnaires’.
“When you have really hot environments, infrastructure is not keeping up,” said Jean Grassman, an associate professor at the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health.
“People are realizing, whether you’re talking about floods or cooling systems, they’re not designed for this. The fact that there’s failures is not terribly surprising.”
Legionella, the bacteria that cause the disease, thrives in water temperatures of 77 to 113 degrees …
