Foreclosures Expediting Spread Of West Nile

October 6th, 2008 | Tags: Foreclosed Homes

Foreclosures are expediting the spread of West Nile. The stagnant pools in the abandoned foreclosed houses have become ideal for the breeding of mosquitoes that carry the virus of West Nile. The foreclosure crisis has spread like a virus and may be the cause of the multiplication of a real virus also – the dreaded West Nile.

In Kern County as soon as the number of foreclosed houses tripled the cases of West Nile Virus also jumped three fold. It was no mere coincidence said William Reisen, PhD, from the Center for Vector Borne Diseases of California University. His colleagues echoed these sentiments. He said that a phenomenal increase in foreclosures has led to innumerable deserted vacant houses. This has allowed the region to be dotted with new habitat pockets for mosquito breeding. The rise of new habitats may be the primary cause of the early seasonal unexpected increase in the West Nile virus in Bakersfield during the previous year.

It shows how events that are apparently unrelated to the illness can tell on the public health said Roger Nasci of CDC’s arboviral disease section. He explained, “This does emphasize that there are a number of complicating factors – which many people would not anticipate to be disease risks – that come into play.”

James Hughes MD, of Southeastern Center for Emerging Biologic threats elaborated that it needs monitoring to see if the same pattern recurs in other parts of the country. Formerly Hughes was head of National Center for Infectious Diseases. He explained, “This is a carefully done study that relates a rather dramatic increase in West Nile cases to changes in the environment in an urban setting. It illustrates how interplay between mosquitoes, birds, the environment, and a change in economic conditions affects disease”.

The team of experts felt that under normal circumstances this was not supposed to be good for the West Nile virus in Bakersfield because both winter and spring were unusually dry. Dry conditions are not conducive for mosquito breeding. The mosquito spreads the virus from birds to humans. The dry drought like conditions led to a decrease in the number of birds and should have been followed by less likelihood of the virus spreading. But in June – that is a month earlier than previous summers, the population of mosquitoes in urban pockets increased dramatically. In the ecological niche the population of sparrows spiraled increasing the chances of the virus being carried by the feathered folks.