A New York congressman is calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide assistance for preventing Legionnaires’ disease.
Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney, in addition to calling for assistance from the CDC, announced support for legislation which would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to report cases of infectious diseases within 24 hours to the appropriate local and state agencies. The congressman also wrote to the secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, expressing concern over the recent death of a Poughkeepsie veteran and the presence of the bacteria at the VA Hudson Valley Health Care System Campus at Castle Point, in Wappingers Falls, in Dutchess County. Maloney had called for an investigation into how the how the tragedy occurred. Legionnaires' disease is a bacterial disease that is treatable, though older adults and those with weakened immune systems are more susceptible.
