G overnor Kathy Hochul defended New York City's response to the Legionnaires ' disease outbreak after officials on Tuesday confirmed the death toll had risen to five.

A law firm filed a lawsuit Aug. 20 against a New York City hospital’s construction company, alleging the company failed to treat bacteria-infected water in its cooling towers, leading to a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak.

Victims of the deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak gripping Harlem will sue the Big Apple for allegedly letting bacteria fester in city-owned cooling towers, it was announced Wednesday.

Legionnaires’ disease is a rare condition, and incidence is hard to estimate because diagnosis requires a suspicion of disease and ordering of the tests needed for confirmation, said Krishna Thavarajah, MD, a pulmonologist and director of the Interstitial Lung Disease Program at Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, in an interview.