Thousands of abandoned swimming pools, another casualty of the real estate market meltdown, have become breeding grounds for mosquitoes that can carry the West Nile virus, Orange County vector control officials said Tuesday.
Murky, stagnant water acts as a perfect petri dish for mosquito breeding, say officials who note that as debt-ridden homeowners walk away from their mortgages, paying the pool guy is not high on their to-do list.
What has alarmed officials is a report of 13 birds found dead with the virus in Orange County in the first nine days of May. There were no reports of humans with the virus.
"Thirteen birds in such a short time frame is reminiscent of 2004 conditions," said Robert Cummings, Orange County Vector Control science director.
During that critical year, four people died in the county and 28 died statewide after becoming infected with the virus.
The virus is transmitted to people and other animals by infected mosquitoes. A mosquito acquires the infection by feeding on a bird with the virus in its blood. The virus lives in the mosquito and is transmitted to a new host when it bites a person or other animal.
Other areas have not reported a similar abundance of dead birds with the virus.
"Luckily, we have not had those types of numbers, but we're trying to get the message out to the public to be aware," said Truc Dever, a spokeswoman for the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control.
A crow with the disease was recently found in Santa Clarita.
"One of the problems we're having is with all the foreclosures, we have many abandoned swimming pools and also neglected or uncollected trash," Dever said.
Vector officials could not explain why the birds were reported dying in Orange County and not in other areas.
The number of Orange County homes going into foreclosure jumped 167% from the first quarter of 2007 to the same period this year. That represents a dramatic increase from 2,644 homes to 7,082 -- though not all homes had pools.
But more swimming pools are built in Southern California than the rest of the state, which has about 1.5 million pools, said the California Spa and Pool Industry Education Council.
In Orange County, the dead birds -- nine crows, two house finches, a hermit thrush and a black-headed grosbeak -- were found in a wide-ranging area that included San Clemente, Anaheim, Brea and Huntington Beach.
