After detecting the bacteria for Legionnaires' disease in its cooling towers, GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) has temporarily closed a manufacturing site in North Carolina and sent employees home while it cleans the towers and nvestigates the impact of the situation. The discovery comes as an outbreak of the infection has resulted in a dozen deaths in New York.

Spokeswoman Jenni Ligday confirmed a report in the Raleigh News & Observer that GSK closed the site in Zebulon Tuesday after routine testing turned up the Legionella bacteria. She told FiercePharmain an email that the employees who work at the main site were sent home and that "second and third shift employees are being notified not to report to work until further notification while the situation is remedied." About 850 people work at the facilities.

Ligday said the towers will be cleaned and retested before the site goes back into operation. "We are taking every precaution to ensure the health and safety of our employees, as well as the safety and integrity of our products."

The News & Observer reported that GSK has not determined which medications, if any, might be affected by the incident. The plant manufactures 30 GSK brands in 500 presentations including its Advair and Ellipta inhaler products. In tablet form it also makes Imitrex, Epivir, Combivir, Wellbutrin SR/Zyban, Zofran, Valtrex, Trizivir, Zovirax, Lamictal Tafinlar, Mekinist as well as Tivicay and Triumeq, two popular HIV drugs.

Legionnaires' disease, and the milder form of the infection Pontiac fever, is airborne, caught by breathing the bacteria in a mist or vapor and not spread from person-to-person. An outbreak of the illness in the South Bronx has infected 113 since July 10, 12 of whom have died, according to the New York Times. Officials there think a refurbished hotel may be the original site of the outbreak. Officials in New York last week ordered every building with a cooling tower to test for the bacteria within two weeks.