And again the virus: New York investigates the outbreak of a deadly disease in a Manhattan nursing home
'19.09.2022'
Nadezhda Verbitskaya
New York State health officials said they were investigating several deaths at a Manhattan nursing home. They may be linked to an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease, a serious type of pneumonia caused by bacteria that thrive in warm water. NBC New York.
Mount Sinai Hospital reported on Aug. 30 that two Legionnaires' disease patients were referred from Amsterdam Nursing Home. A week later, the hospital reported two more cases of hospitalization of residents of this nursing home due to Legionnaires' disease. The nursing home itself reported three more patients who have not yet needed hospitalization.
Another case followed, bringing the total to eight as of September 16. So far, only three of those cases have been definitively confirmed with Legionnaires' disease, the rest are being tested, state officials said.
Four patients have died, including two of the three confirmed cases. However, the causes of death of all of them remain unclear. According to the state, the fact is that people with numerous comorbidities die, so you can’t automatically write everything off as legionnaires’ disease.
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The Department of Health has recommended additional surveillance efforts, including water sampling and restrictions on water use.
"The Department is recommending that water restrictions be placed on all areas of the facility's west wing where patients have lived," state health officials said in a statement. “Water restrictions will remain in place until additional legionella testing of aquatic cultures is completed and no additional cases are identified.”
The nursing home was also advised to extend surveillance until November 2022 to prevent new cases. Amsterdam Nursing Home cultured its water systems in January and June and found no Legionella bacteria, according to the state. Additional samples were taken on 31 August. And state officials took water samples last week. The results of the analysis of both of these samples are under review.
