NEW YORK, July 18 (BSS/AFP) - One person has died in New York's Upper East Side neighborhood after contracting Legionnaires' disease, health officials said Friday in a statement.

The New York City Health Department also said that 67 cases had been confirmed in the neighborhood and that 12 people were hospitalized.

Legionnaires' disease is a serious lung infection caused by Legionella bacteria, with a fatality rate of nine percent.

People can become infected through contaminated water or by inhaling airborne microdroplets. The disease is not transmitted from person to person.

The New York City Health Department urged anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms -- such as fever, chills, muscle aches or coughing -- to seek medical attention.

Additionally, officials have ordered at least 76 buildings -- including one housing the famed Metropolitan Museum of Art -- to undertake special cleaning after water samples tested positive for the bacteria.

The disease takes its name from the first known outbreak, which occurred in 1976 at a Philadelphia hotel where the American Legion veterans' organization was holding a convention. Thirty-four people died.