This article is a collaboration with Healthbeat , a nonprofit newsroom covering public health published by Civic News Company and KFF Health News . A public agency with offices at 26 Federal Plaza notified the General Services Administration of a case of Legionnaires’ disease among one of its employees recently, THE CITY and Healthbeat have learned.
The reported case of Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia, comes less than three weeks after GSA found the bacteria that can cause the disease in water throughout the building , which houses immigration court and federal law enforcement offices. Most people exposed to Legionella bacteria do not become sick, but exposure can lead to Legionnaires’ disease, which can be serious or even fatal.
GSA, which operates the building, alerted tenant agencies in an email Monday that an individual connected to 26 Federal Plaza had tested positive for Legionnaires’ disease.“No direct connection has been made between this report and the water quality in the building,” a GSA representative said in the email, which was provided to THE CITY and Healthbeat by a worker in the building…