West Nile virus has been diagnosed in nine Orange County resident so far this year — only 11 cases were identified in 2013 — and experts on the mosquito-borne disease pointed to Santa Ana swimming pools as a likely breeding ground.
City officials and representatives of the Orange County Vector Control District, the agency in charge of mosquito abatement, appealed to the public to eliminate standing pools of water, where mosquitoes breed.
After testing mosquitoes caught in traps recently, vector control officials found the disease more prevalent than ever, Robert Cummings, director of scientific technical services for the district, said at a news conference today.
“Lately, 80 percent of the mosquitoes are coming back positive for the West Nile virus,” he said.
Last year at this time, about 10 percent tested positive, he said.
“We just did not see the intensity we’re seeing now,” Cumming said.
Vector control district experts “really don’t know” what caused the uptick in the infected mosquitoes, but neglected swimming pools need to be cleaned up, he said.
Six Santa Ana residents have been infected, as well as one each in Costa Mesa, Orange and Laguna Niguel. The district has found 105 dead birds carrying the virus in north county cities.
Initially, the Santa Ana’s drainage system was suspected as a prime breeding area, and vector control officials notified the city a few weeks ago, city spokeswoman Tanya Lyon said.
The storm drains were cleaned out, but the number of birds dying from the virus increased, she said. An aerial view of the county showed 14 swimming pools with dirty water, Lyon said.
“The good news is our drainage system is clean,” Lyon said.
The vector control district has the authority to fine owners of neglected swimming pools, but generally prefer to educate residents, said Jared Dever, a spokesman for the district.
“When you educate people, you get compliance very quickly,” Dever said.
“We have a saying: ‘We don’t care what you’re growing as long as it’s not mosquitoes,”‘ and that helps pave the way for officials to check backyards where there might be problems, Dever said.
The breakdown of dead birds carrying the virus this year is as follows:
- Santa Ana – 33
- Anaheim – 11
- Orange – 7
- Fullerton – 5
- Garden Grove – 5
- Tustin – 5
- Buena Park – 3
- Costa Mesa – 3
- Irvine – 3
- Fountain Valley – 2
- Newport Beach – 2
- Cypress – 1
- Huntington Beach – 1
- La Habra – 1