Food

Legionnaires’ outbreak rocks New York as experts warn of rising climate threat

The growing impact of the bacteria in an increasingly warming climate is highlighted by a recent outbreak of legionnaires disease (a rare, but serious form of pneumonia) that occurred in New York.
In an Upper East Side outbreak, between Central Park in Manhattan and the East River lies a wealthy area. At least 28 individuals have become ill. In an effort to contain the outbreak, officials from the Health Department have tested water samples taken from 160 cooling towers in buildings to detect the bacteria.
The commissioner of New York City’s health department, Dr AlisterMartin, said that the climate is subtropical. Climate change has worsened our exposure to legionnaires disease and increased the likelihood of clusters.
Martin stated that the city had taken an aggressive approach against the outbreak, despite the fact that the likelihood of contracting legionnaires disease is “extremely rare”. Martin told the Guardian that at least 19 cooling towers in large buildings, part of their heating and cooling system, were ordered to be drained, cleaned and disinfected. Another official called these “buildings that are of particular interest”, and said extensive testing would be needed to determine which building was responsible.
Legionnaires’ disease is caused by a serious illness that can be fatal. The bacterium Legionella phlegmophila causes the condition. This microorganism, which thrives in warm-water environments, has been linked to this severe illness. This bacterium, most of the time harmless, can be dangerous if inhaled as vapors or mists.
It can lead to a range of illnesses, from mild ones like Pontiac Fever, up to more serious conditions such as legionnaires disease. This multi-system infection causes fever, coughing, headaches and muscle pains. Legionnaires disease affects fewer than 3 people in 100,000. However, 10% of those diagnosed will eventually die.
The name Legionella comes from the group that was first found to be sick by epidemiologists: an American Legion veteran group who met in Philadelphia, 1976.
The bacterium is now responsible for a growing number of global outbreaks, from New York, to Melbourne, to the Lombardy area of Italy, to Lincoln, New Hampshire. Urban conditions like aging infrastructures, poor maintenance and chronically ill populations can cause outbreaks.
George Yates, 54, was diagnosed as having legionnaires disease in Washington Heights, during an outbreak that occurred in 2018.
Yates said that he did not work or live in Washington Heights at the time. He was driving for a ride-share company and he believes he came into contact with Legionella by chance. He spent five days in hospital but recovered.
The advice that I would give the average New Yorker is to not live in fear, said Dr Benjamin Wyler. He’s an emergency medicine doctor at Mount Sinai Health System and has studied Legionnaires’ Disease.
He added: “But, if symptoms such as a fever, cough or malaise develop, then you may want to consider seeking medical attention.”
Three zip codes in the Upper East Side are affected by this outbreak. Multiple studies and past outbreaks of the disease in New York have revealed that it disproportionately impacts people in poverty, especially Black Americans, to the dismay of local officials.
Marquis Harrison said, “I began to think that Legionella was only in Black and Brown neighborhoods”, at a meeting of the Harlem community board in Manhattan. We only found it in Harlem and the South Bronx, communities of color.
Martin told New Yorkers that they would be able to identify buildings in the near future that were being forced by the city to clean the cooling towers of their buildings, but the list wouldn’t reveal the exact building where the epidemic was centered.
For this, the epidemiologists must culture water samples in order to confirm that the Legionella bacterium detected by polymerase-chain reaction (PCR), was a living colony. Lab workers must then sequence the genomes of these cultures and compare them with sequences from sputum collected from patients suffering legionnaires. Doctors typically perform a legionnaires test with urine, which means that some patients might not even have had their sputum collected.
The health department still has much work to complete, and the results of the investigation could be a month away. The CDC says that in many small outbreaks the cause of the outbreak has never been found.
Every summer, we get calls from New Yorkers who are sickened by this illness, said Jory L. Lange, an attorney specializing in food safety in Houston, Texas, who represented 50 Harlem residents who were sickened with the disease in 2025.
Even after the study is completed, climate change may continue to create conditions that are favorable to Legionella.
Many of the reservoirs where Legionnaires cases are found have been left stagnant by industrialized mankind, such as hot tubs. A study revealed that truckers are remarkably susceptible to Legionnaires because they use non-genuine window cleaners in their cars.
The bacteria do not care, said Dr Rene Najera. Director of Public Health at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. If they find a spot that is warm and has water, they will multiply.
He added that “it’s certainly not helping.”

Food

Trump grants Kyiv Patriots licences: What’s next in the Russia-Ukraine war?

Kyiv, Ukraine: Patriot missile interceptors is the weapon that Ukraine most needs right now, and each night it attacks Russia.
US President Donald Trump now offers hope by giving Kyiv permission to manufacture the expensive interceptors made in the United States.
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List of four items
List 1 of 4Ukraine attacks oil and military installations near St Petersburg
List 2 of 4Russians tout a ‘war against NATO’ amid Ukraine losses
List 3 of 4Russian attack on Ukraine kills seven at NATO Leaders meeting in Ankara
List 4 of 4. Why have 500,000 Russians been bankrupted during the Ukraine War?
End of List
A little bird told me that they would be able to create Patriots. It’s a very complicated process, and we’ll teach them. It’s not difficult, but you will figure it out quickly,” Trump said to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday at the NATO Summit in Turkiye. You can’t say that they’re not getting enough.
Trump did not specify when production would begin, but said Washington will hold onto its stock. Ukraine has said that it is working to improve domestic production.
According to Nikolay Mitrokhin of Bremen University in Germany, Ukraine may “get nothing” over the next few years.
He told Al Jazeera that “access to US technology can speed up or enhance Ukraine’s program for ballistic and anti-ballistic missiles.”
He said that Ukraine could opt for simpler and cheaper missiles and this may only take a few months.
He said: “We can’t exclude the possibility that a similar programme exists already and was only made public.”
Ukraine is trying to manufacture missiles as part of Patriot’s surface-to air systems, which also include missile launchers and radars. This van allows the system to move about and avoid detection.
It is not just the “little birds” who make the difference in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Unknown to the operator of the drone, a Russian soldier in grey-green camouflage was hiding in a hole in the ground. A drone operator in a bunker located dozens of kilometers west of the forest patch saw the hole where the Russian soldier in camouflage grey-green was hidden.
This soldier was part of a new Moscow tactic that involves sending two to three “infiltrators”, to avoid Ukrainian positions with porous defenses, because large groups of people are more difficult to find and to destroy.
Al Jazeera watched the drone operator’s live video feed from his laptop. He clicked and clanked to ask for assistance.
A kamikaze drone laden with explosives flew straight into the hole in less than one minute. The operator of the spy drone yelled an expletive in triumph and then flew eastwards.
The commander of the unit told Al Jazeera that he received streams from 20-30 drones all at once. He did not reveal his name or his exact location, as per wartime protocol.
This is just a small part of the lives and deaths of Ukrainians and Russians, but the scene puts an end the centuries-old idea of “front lines” where soldiers can see each other and even kill them.
‘Network-centric warfare’
In 2022 two ex-Soviet armed forces were fighting against each other, using World War II strategies and depending on vehicles, tanks and artillery which now appear to be extinct.
Pavel Luzin, an analyst at the Jamestown Foundation, Washington, DC, said that “things have moved towards a further development of the concept of network-centric war.”
He spoke of the real-time communication between servicemen, commanders and weapons that allows for faster combat speed.
As the conscription crisis and desertion rate increases, Ukraine’s army is increasingly relying on technologically advanced solutions, such as robots which can blow up enemy bunkers and fire machineguns. They also deliver ammunition and food to wounded soldiers and even rescue them.
Al Jazeera reported that “if we hadn’t had a shortage in soldiers, generals would have sent soldiers to the front lines,” Ihor Chikivsky of Robotic Complexes, a company which produces ground robots resembling carts, located in Ternopil. We didn’t wish to be on the front lines, nor did we want to perish in the trenches. So, ground robots were used.
Artificial intelligence is used to lethal precision in some cases, even if it seems like a low-tech solution.
Swift Beat’s Hornets are inexpensive, mid-range attack drones that use AI technology to track Russian military vehicles, fuel tanks, and supply trucks. They cannot be jammed by any electronic means.
The AI system that will detect enemy soldiers is being “outsourced” by a Ukrainian drone operator.
I could have missed someone hiding in the vegetation. AI won’t and there will be no place to hide, Andriy said, revealing his name only as per wartime protocol.
Ukrainian military experts say Russia can hit back with more force despite needing to increase air defense
Using one of Moscow’s worst miscalculations, Ukrainian drones and missiles have also struck beyond the European region.
The Kremlin has focused its attention on manufacturing expensive missiles instead of air defence.
Air defence is becoming increasingly challenging due to Russia’s huge size. With a population that has shrunk from 145,000,000, the country occupies an area almost equal in size to both India and the United States combined.
Al Jazeera quoted Lieutenant-General Ihor Romanenko as saying that the air defence system of Ukraine could not handle its tasks with the current tools. They need more equipment in terms of the broader spectrum of air- and missile defense.
After a Ukrainian drone attack a day before, the largest Russian oil refinery located in Omsk (southwestern Siberia) ceased operations on Tuesday.
The same day, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared that war will be won in the sky.
We have entered the airspace. Zelenskyy, The Financial Times: “We are competitive in the air.” The decisive battle will be fought in the sky.
His former top-ranking general has warned, however, that Ukrainian attacks alone won’t be enough to win a decisive battle.
In an opinion piece published on Wednesday by The Telegraph, Valerii Zaluzhnyi wrote that “These attacks were expensive, technically demanding, and in the end reciprocal.” Zaluzhnyi was dismissed in 2024 by Zelenskyy and is currently serving as Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
“Russia has the capability to respond with an equal or even greater amount of force.” He wrote that neither side could rely solely on such warfare for a strategic victory.
When Russia responds, it can be a harrowing experience.
Al Jazeera reported that Kateryna Bábich’s apartment on the first floor of a central Kyiv building was struck by a Russian rocket strike at dawn Friday.
A shockwave destroyed most of her doors and windows. Her diabetic son suffered a concussion, a knee injury and was injured by tripping over he wardrobe.
In Kyiv, and its surrounding area, 27 people were killed by the attack. It involved 351 drones and 68 missiles.
It is difficult to say when Russian President Vladimir Putin might be persuaded to restart peace negotiations.
Mitrokhin of Bremen University in Germany said: “Kyiv could keep striking at [Russia’s] Infrastructure, but the question is when these victories can be turned into agreements.” And that is the tango of two. “It’s difficult to predict when Putin will give up his total confrontational approach.”
The recent success of Kyiv seemed to convince the White House that peace talks should resume – but on a higher level.
Al Jazeera reported that Ukraine had convinced the American side to change the logic in peace talks. “We don’t need to accept concessions anymore, we can just talk about a truce,” Volodymyr Fensenko, the head of Kyiv’s Penta think-tank, said.
He said, “The Kremlin is not yet ready but that the American side gravitates towards this scenario.”

Food

Cyclospora parasite in PA, NJ: Here’s what to know

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Public health officials are on high alert for an intestinal bug which can cause “explosive diarrhea” and send people running to the toilet.
Between May 1 and 16 of this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 145 cases. This included a cluster that occurred in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Michigan state health officials reported more than 1,200 cases of cyclosporiasis as of the 9th of July. Health officials in Ohio also diagnosed 177 additional cases as of that date.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reports that 28 cyclosporiasis cases were reported in Pennsylvania in 2026. 14 of these occurred in Southeastern Pennsylvania. The state had 40 cases in 2025. In 2024 there were 87.
This stomach infection is not usually considered life-threatening. What you need to know is:
What is the cyclosporiasis disease?
A microscopic parasite, called cyclosporacayetanensis causes cyclosporiasis. Cyclospora can only be observed under a magnifying glass.
Parasites are endemic to tropical and subtropical areas of the globe. However, other people can get it by consuming contaminated water or food. In the U.S., foodborne outbreaks are often linked to imported products such as snow peas, basil, cilantro and raspberries.
In an email sent Thursday, a Pennsylvania Department of Health spokesperson said that while cyclosporiasis can be contracted at any time of the year, it is more common in the spring and the summer.
The CDC states that the interval between an infection and the onset of symptoms is about a week.
What are the symptoms cyclosporiasis?
Watery diarrhea, sometimes with explosive episodes of diarrhea is the main sign. Bloating, cramps and fatigue are also signs.
Other symptoms are body aches and a mild fever.
Untreated, the symptoms may last from a couple of days up to several months. Some people do not show any symptoms, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Cyclosporiasis: Diagnosis and treatment
Doctors test stool samples for cyclosporiasis. Health providers often take several stool samples because cyclospora can be difficult to detect.
Some health care professionals will prescribe antibiotics once a confirmed diagnosis has been made. According to the CDC however, people who have a healthy immune system will usually recover on their own.
People with immune deficiencies are more susceptible to severe and prolonged illnesses.
Preventing cyclosporiasis
The exact mechanism by which the parasites enter food and water is unknown. The CDC advises avoiding food and water contaminated with feces. In areas where infection is endemic the CDC cautions that regular disinfection is unlikely to eliminate the parasite.
Both the FDA and CDC still encourage safe food preparation, such as washing fruits and vegetables before cutting, cooking or eating.
The best way for Pennsylvanians to prevent exposure to cyclosporiasis, according a spokesperson from the Department of Health, is washing hands before and after handling fruits and vegetables that are still raw.
They should also wash fruits, vegetables and herbs under running water. Scrub firm fruits, like melons and cucumbers, using a produce brush. Cut away any damaged parts of fruits and veggies before eating. And, as quickly as possible, refrigerate peeled or cut produce. This will reduce the risk of ingesting a parasite which causes cyclosporiasis.
The CDC says that there’s no proof to suggest the recent wave of cases represents a single, multistate epidemic.

Food

Man Charged in National Guard Shooting Is Hospitalized

A court transcript stated that the man who is accused of attacking and killing members of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., was hospitalized last year after he refused food or water.
Federal prosecutors stated in a filing that Rahmanullah lakanwal was admitted on “emergency” basis to the hospital overnight, Wednesday, for life-saving treatment. In an emergency hearing held late on Thursday, Judge Amit P. Mehta of U.S. District Court of District of Columbia described Mr. Lakanwal’s condition as “self-inflicted”.
Andrew Wolfe; and assault with intent to kill while armed. Andrew Wolfe, and assaulting with the intent to kill whilst armed. He has denied all charges.
Why Mr. Lakanwal refused food, and in some instances, water, is unclear. Both the prosecution and defense made no comments in response to Mr. Lakanwal’s hospitalization.
As part of President Trump’s surge of law enforcement in August, Sergeant Wolfe and Specialist Beckstrom were both members of the West Virginia National Guard. According to officials, Mr. Lakanwal drove across the nation in order to commit the crime. Other Guardsmen shot him and arrested him.
The U.S. Marshals Service informed the Prosecutors last month that Mr. Lakanwal had refused to “consume adequate nutrition for an extended period”. Marshals Service said that Mr. Lakanwal refused to “consume adequate nutrition over an extended period” leaving him susceptible to long-term consequences including death.
Judge Mehta ordered that Mr. Lakanwal’s medical records, including medical history forms and results of tests from Wednesday to his hospitalization were provided to the prosecution on Thursday.
The prosecutors announced last month that they would consider seeking the death penalty in the event Mr. Lakanwal was convicted of Specialist Beckstrom’s murder.

Food

Man charged with killing National Guard member is hospitalized

WASHINGTON (AP) — A man accused of shooting two National Guard troops near the White House, killing one of them, has been taken to a hospital for treatment of a potentially life-threatening medical condition after he refused to eat food while jailed in pretrial custody, prosecutors said in a court filing Thursday.
Justice Department prosecutors said they learned Thursday morning that Rahmanullah Lakanwal was rushed to a hospital overnight “for medical treatment necessary to preserve his life.” The U.S. Marshals Service notified prosecutors last month of concerns that Lakanwal was at risk of long-term health consequences, including death, due to his “refusal to consume adequate nutrition for an extended period,” the filing says.
The filing doesn’t elaborate on the circumstances of Lakanwal’s refusal to eat, but prosecutors noted that courts have held that prison officials can involuntary feed “hunger-striking prisoners” to save their lives.
The judge presiding over Lakanwal’s case convened an emergency hearing related to the defendant’s medical condition while he remains in federal custody. At the end of the hearing, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta instructed prosecutors to submit a proposed order that would give them access to Lakanwal’s recent medical records.
Defense attorney Shelli Peterson and a spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office declined to comment after the hearing.
Lakanwal, an Afghan national, has pleaded not guilty to charges including first-degree murder in the November 2025 shooting that killed West Virginia National Guard Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and critically wounded Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe.
Beckstrom, 20, and Wolfe, 24, were deployed from West Virginia to Washington, D.C., for the surge of federal law-enforcement patrols that began last summer in the nation’s capital at President Donald Trump’s direction.
Lakanwal is accused of driving to the nation’s capital from Bellingham, Washington, while in possession of a stolen firearm and ambushing the two Guard members outside a subway station three blocks from the White House. Another National Guard member heard gunshots and saw Beckstrom and Wolfe fall to the ground as Lakanwal fired a gun and screamed, “Allahu Akbar!” according to a police report.
Lakanwal was shot during the confrontation and appeared remotely by video from a hospital bed in December for his first hearing before a judge. A trial date for his case hasn’t been scheduled yet.

Food

Nearly 400 cyclosporiasis cases confirmed in NY as officials probe nationwide outbreak

Rochester, N.Y. – Health officials in Rochester are looking into an outbreak caused by a parasite found on food that sickened thousands of people across the country, and nearly 400 New Yorkers since May.
Cyclosporiasis is an intestinal disease that can be caused by contaminated produce. Symptoms include severe diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea.
Rochester has not confirmed any cases. New York City has reported the majority of infections in the state, while the rest are spread across the entire state.
Michigan and Ohio have both confirmed over 1,000 cases. These two states are the most affected at the moment.
New York State Department of Health is working closely with local and state health departments, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration to determine possible exposure sources.
Background: CDC searches for the source of a ‘explosive diarrhea’ outbreak
The Department of Health will ask a person who is confirmed to have the disease, what foods they ate and bought, so that investigators may determine if there are any common factors.
Doctors say that cyclospora infection is more common during summer, but most healthy individuals recover by themselves. The doctors advise that anyone with symptoms lasting more than a few days, or showing signs of dehydration should contact their healthcare provider.
Learn more about this infection, and what you can do to avoid it.