Rainwater left untreated in cooling towers atop city-owned Harlem Hospital fueled the Big Apple’s deadliest Legionnaire’s disease outbreak in a decade, the Rev. Al Sharpton charged Tuesday.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and civil rights advocate Rev. Al Sharpton are planning a press conference Tuesday, Aug. 19, to announce a lawsuit against a construction company accused of starting the deadly Legionnaires' disease outbreak in Harlem, targeting Black and brown residents, BLACK ENTERPRISE has confirmed.

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.

At a town hall on Thursday, Harlem residents raised questions and concerns about the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that has resulted in nearly 100 cases and four deaths since last month.