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California Foreclosures Linked To West Nile Virus

Vacant homes, unattended pools are breeding grounds for mosquitoes

June 9, 2008

There are so many vacant homes – and so many of those homes have swimming pools – that officials worry these abandoned pools have become breeding grounds for mosquitoes that spread the West Nile virus.

The instances of the disease have increased sharply when compared to this time last year. So far, at least 18 California counties have reported cases of infection this year, according to Vicki Kramer, chief of the California Department of Public Health's Vector-Borne Disease Section.

Fortunately, the increase in cases has not been seen so much in humans, but in birds. However, health officials are concerned the disease could easily spread from birds to humans.

Public health officials, curious about the cause of the unexpected increase in cases of the disease, reached the foreclosure conclusion after examining aerial photographs of California neighborhoods, showing scores of abandoned pools.

California leads the nation in the number of homes in foreclosure.

The number of California homes lost to foreclosure in the first quarter of 2008 was up a staggering 327 percent from the first quarter a year ago, according to DataQuick, reaching an average of more than 500 a day. There were 20,000 foreclosures in southern California alone, in the first three months of this year.

West Nile virus is spread by mosquitoes, and symptoms include fever, headache, chills, weakness and drowsiness. The most severe cases can lead to complications like meningitis or encephalitis.

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