By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
OLEAN — A Cattaraugus County man stricken with Legionnaire’s Disease has been hospitalized in the intensive care unit at Buffalo General Hospital.
Dr. Kevin D. Watkins, Cattaraugus County public health director, told members of the Board of Health on Wednesday that local health officials have been unable to interview the man as part of their investigation into how he became infected.
He did not say where the man resided, his age or whether he has any underlying health conditions. His is the first confirmed case of Legionnaire’s disease in 2025.
A healthy person, Watkins said, is less likely to develop Legionnaire’s disease. A typical person who contracts the legionella disease is a male over age 50, a smoker or someone with COPD, someone who has had a transplant or is immunocompromised.
There were three cases of Legionnaire’s disease confirmed in the county last year and five in 2023.
“Symptoms can include cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea,” Watkins said. “You can even have mental health changes as well.”
The bacteria that causes legionella is transmitted through contact with water that can be inhaled into the lungs such as from a shower. There are 21 registered sites in the county where water-based systems — mostly for cooling — have the potential to harbor the bacteria. The bacteria can also be found in soil.
The cooling tower sites are inspected annually and monitored by the county health department on a weekly basis. Ten are currently in operation, nine are decommissioned and two are currently not working. They are registered with the state Cooling Tower Registry and tested regularly. “They have all been sampled and they are all compliant,” Watkins said.
The Legionnaire’s disease issue was highlighted by Watkins after the recent deaths in New York City tied to 11 cooling towers. Through July 7 there have been three deaths and 21 hospitalized from 67 cases of Legionnaire’s disease.
The state Department of Health issued an advisory to local health departments and physicians to promptly investigate and report cases of Legionnaire’s disease.
In 2015, there were 150 cases and 16 deaths in the Bronx between July and October tied to Legionnaire’s disease. These are the months when air conditioning use is at its highest, Watkins said. In 2023, the state reported 793 cases of Legionnaire’s disease.
Over the past 10 years, there have been 40 cases of Legionnaire’s disease in Cattaraugus County.
The most cases in that period was in 2019 when there were 8 people contracting Legionnaire’s disease. There were four cases each in 2015, 2016 and 2017; five cases in 2018, three in 2020, 2 in 2021, 1 in 2022, five in 2023 and three in 2024.
Watkins also updated the Board of Health on a rabid fox that bit a 64-year-old Portville man who had been feeding feral cats and the fox in his backyard. One day in late June the fox began chasing the cats and the man sought to protect the cats by chasing the fox with a shovel. The fox bit him on the shin. The man captured the fox after knocking it unconscious.
He contacted the Health Department after hours and was advised to go to the emergency room at Olean General Hospital where the wound was cleaned and the man received immunoglobulin and a first dose of rabies vaccine. The Health Department collected the fox and sent it to Albany for testing, which was positive. The man was contacted and told to come to the health department for a series of post exposure rabies vaccine shots.
In addition, the cats — 19 in all — were required to be quarantined due to possible rabies exposure. They were quarantined inside the man’s house. At the end of the quarantine, they were vaccinated against rabies. All feeding outside the house has stopped.
The health department printed up flyers that were distributed in the Portville and Westons Mills areas noting that a rabid fox has been detected in the area and may have had contact with other animals including pets. People were advised to get a booster shot for their pet or get them vaccinated if they have not been vaccinated. A New York State mobile phone alert was also sent.
Watkins said cases of human rabies are extremely rare in the U.S., with about three cases reported each year. Twenty-five cases were reported between 2009 and 2018, and in 2021, five Americans died from rabies.
Watkins said prevention is the best medicine when it comes to rabies. Don’t feed stray animals and make sure pets and livestock are vaccinated against rabies. Keep pets indoors, especially at night.
The health department has submitted 27 suspected rabid animals for testing so far this year, Watkins said. Two came back positive, the fox and a bat. In the case of the bat, which was found in a bedroom, five members of the family and a guest were given post exposure vaccine
“Just try not to attract wild animals in your yard and report all animal bites to the health department,” Watkins warned.
Several towns in the northern part of the county have been targeted for aerial bait drops in a bid to vaccinate wild animals. The bait drops are not harmful to pets as long as they don’t ingest a large amount. If someone picks up one of the bait drops, they will be OK, but should wash their hands as soon as possible.
The health department also discovered a pool of mosquitoes last month along Raymond Drive in the Town of Carrollton that carried West Nile virus. On July 14, a pool of about 60 mosquitoes caught in adult traps came back as positive for West Nile virus.
The mosquitoes were trapped after the county had contracted to spray larvicide over mosquito breeding areas in the Allegheny River valley. Watkins said the number of adult mosquitoes trapped after that went down dramatically and recent dry weather has seen many breeding pools dry up.
“Mosquitoes in that area potentially had West Nile virus and could have transmitted it to humans,” Watkins said. About three-quarters of people who are infected with West Nile virus don’t show any symptoms. If they do have symptoms, they will appear three to 14 days after they were infected. It can cause serious illness or death. Symptoms can include high fever, stiff neck, tremors, seizures, coma or paralysis.
Prevention is the key, Watkins said. Limit outdoor activities between dusk and dawn. Wear pants and long sleeves. Fix any holes in screens and empty any containers that can hold water around your home to keep mosquitoes from laying eggs.
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All Rights Reserved. Star News LLC. Eric M. Firkel.
