Authorities identify Legionnaires' disease outbreak in Sydney CBD, Australia

Thursday, April 17, 2025

New South Wales Health issued a public health alert on its website on April 10, reporting that six patients were hospitalised with Legionnaires’ disease after recently visiting the Sydney central business district (CBD), with a cooling tower in the area being investigated as a potential source by NSW Health and the City of Sydney NSW Health urged anyone who had visited the Sydney CBD between April 1 and April 10 to seek medical attention if they developed fever, respiratory symptoms such as a cough, chills, or shortness of breath.

The pathogen, Legionella pneumophila (L. pneumophila), is a bacterium that spreads through aerosols. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it causes most cases of Legionnaires’ disease. People are typically infected by inhaling fine mist from contaminated water sources, such as building plumbing systems, cooling towers, or moisture-dispersing devices. As of September 6, 2022, the WHO reported no confirmed cases of direct human-to-human transmission. The disease has a roughly 10% case-fatality rate.

In August of last year, an outbreak of the disease in Melbourne infected 100 people and resulted in two deaths. Cooling towers were also identified as the source in that case.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!