Rikers inmate has Legionnaires' disease

NEW YORK (AP) — Officials say a New York City inmate at the Rikers Island jail complex has been diagnosed with Legionnaires' disease.

But a City Hall spokeswoman said Tuesday that health officials don't believe the 63-year-old inmate's case is connected to a larger outbreak in the South Bronx.

That cluster has killed 12 people and sickened more than 100 others.

The spokeswoman says the Department of Correction's six cooling towers were disinfected last month and will be cleaned again, though it wasn't clear how the inmate was sickened.

A city official not authorized to publicly discuss the case who spoke on condition of anonymity says the inmate had been detained at Rikers for about seven months.

Studies estimate between 8,000 and 18,000 people are hospitalized annually in the U.S. with the disease.