ALBANY, N.Y. ( NEWS10 ) — A third person has died and 20 more people have been hospitalized this past week after a Legionella outbreak at the Peregrine Shaker Senior Living Community in Albany. The center confirmed 10 positive cases of Legionnaires disease on Thursday.
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Legionnaires disease is a type of pneumonia that can be deadly for those who are older and have compromised immune systems. However, doctors said that this is not a public health risk, because the spread is very contained.
“This is not a transmissible infection, people can’t give it to other people, it’s not something we worry about as a communicable disease,” said Dr. Alan Sanders, the chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Albany Medical Center.
Instead of spreading through people, this bacteria is oftentimes spread through sources, like water.
“It’s inhaled through water droplets and aerosolization of the bacteria, so people inhale it and it sets up shop in the lungs,” said Dr. Sanders. “It resides in mostly water supplies, everything from cooling towers to air conditioning systems, shower heads.”