An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease occurred at a senior housing complex in Elmira and officials are expected to offer more details about the incident today. Health officials say six residents of the New York complex have been affected by the disease and that one of them died. The 75 year old Anna Marie Tongate died Thursday, a week after getting sick.

"The public deserves to know why this happened," Tongate's daughter, Kathy Lazeski, said in a statement. "Our hearts go out to all the other families in Elmira suffering through this horrible ordeal."

Legionnaires' is a different but severe form of pneumonia that can be fatal if left untreated. Symptoms include high fever, chills and cough. Legionnaires' disease can be successfully treated with antibiotics, and most people recover from the illness.

One usually contacts the disease by inhaling a bacterium most often found in sources of standing water, such as air conditioning ducts, storage tanks and rivers.

Although most people who are exposed to the bacteria do not become ill, the bacterium can lead to pneumonia. People become infected by inhaling water droplets that contain Legionella (the bacteria that causes Legionnaires ‘disease). The ones who are more likely to get infected have a weakened immune system, are over 50 years old, are smokers or already have lung problems.

The disease was discovered in 1976 and it was named due to an American Legion convention in Philadelphia where 34 people died.

Legionnaire's disease is not contagious therefore it cannot be spread by simple person to person contact.