A Legionnaires' disease outbreak centred on Manhattan's Upper East Side has claimed its first fatality, New York City health officials confirmed on Friday. At least 67 people have been infected and dozens hospitalised since the city began tracking the outbreak on 2 July, with investigators focusing on rooftop cooling towers — devices used to regulate temperatures in large buildings — as the likely source, after Legionella bacteria were detected in systems across more than 75 buildings, including museums, private schools and apartment complexes. Legionnaires' disease, a severe form of pneumonia caused by inhaling contaminated water droplets, kills around 10% of those it infects and cannot be transmitted between people; all affected buildings have been ordered to clean and disinfect their cooling towers.