Health officials say one of 10 people sickened with Legionnaires' disease linked to air conditioning cooling towers at a Syracuse hospital has died.

Investigators say water samples taken at Community General Hospital in Syracuse tested positive for the bacteria that causes the respiratory illness. But they cannot say conclusively the hospital is the origin because they have not matched the water sample to the bacteria in the outbreak.

The hospital has since disinfected the cooling towers.

Legionnaires' disease is caused by the bacterium Legionella, which is found naturally in the environment and can lead to pneumonia.

People are infected by inhaling contaminated water droplets.

AP-ES-07-11-08 1642EDT