News

Legionnaire’s Disease spreads across New York

Learn about the short but worrisome spread that occurred in Harlem last August

Payton Spargo, Lead writer

November 6, 2025

Graphic showcasing Legionnaire’s disease.

An outbreak of a deadly strain of pneumonia, Legionnaire’s disease, has taken the lives of seven residents in Harlem, New York.

The bacteria was traced back to 12 cooling towers in the Harlem area. Cooling towers use both a fan and water to cool the building. Legionnaire’s disease is not spread through person to person contact, but rather by ingesting water droplets containing the bacteria Legionella.

Lawsuits are being filed against the companies that built the water towers containing the bacteria.

Fortunately, the clusters of Legionnaire’s disease in Harlem have concluded. On August 29th, 2025, The New York City Health Department announced that the last day that anyone had reported any symptoms of the strain was August 9th.

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About the Contributors

Payton Spargo, Lead Writer

Payton Spargo is a junior at Crown Point High School. This year will be her first year on the Inklings Staff. Spargo is a Lead writer for the 2025-2026 school year. She joined the newspaper crew primarily because of her love of writing and enjoying being able to write freely as classwork. When Spargo is not writing for the newspaper, she is most likely in the gym, playing her guitar, or watching some random horror series she found on Netflix.

Trent Josleyn, Design Manager And Director of Live Broadcast Productions

Trent Josleyn is a Senior at CPHS, and this is his fourth year with Crown Town Media. He joined due to his love of radio and plans on attending college to major in Broadcast Journalism and minor in Musical Theatre. Trent enjoys working as the Director of Live Broadcast Productions for CTM and Design Manager for Inklings. In August of 2024, Josleyn was nominated for a John Drury National High School Radio Award for his work on The Morning Bark. You can catch Trent live on The Morning Bark every weekday from 6:50 am to 7:30 am.