larger view

While communities like San Jose worry about clusters of dead birds, or those in Utah worry about clusters of infected mosquitoes, we here in Bakersfield actually have to worry about clusters of already infected people in an eastern area of the city where officials are stumped.

And the infection might spread.

This may be total speculation related to this article yesterday on ABC 23 about the East Bakersfield West Nile Virus Cluster, but I can't help but wonder about factors not even mentioned.

Of course we have to think about so many factors involved in why there is a cluster of West Nile Virus infections in Bakersfield. 22/25 confirmed cases in the entire state, with most located in east Bakersfield (And the first death in the state too).

Other factors? Migratory bird patterns, bird feeding habits, underground water systems that could sometimes get blockages and cause standing water. Sumps, park ponds...Is the city doing its fair job of fending off mosquitos from such stagnant areas that are especially dangerous during dry years?

Notice I said dry years, not after wet years.

Here's a thought:

But what about the slumping housing market? Sometimes disease can affect economy, but can something like a fluctuating real estate market affect disease?

Rent signs are popping up around town all over the place. Just how many abandoned houses are there as a result? And how much standing water beneath infected migratory bird areas, or bird populations like black birds and crows/ravens who live near, or travel around such residential areas with longstanding water--perfect breeding grounds for mosquito vectors who can transmit West Nile from bird host to bird host, and to people...?

Just some speculation. But you have to think about the housing situation here. Buyers are from all over the state. A rented house could have an owner from anywhere...

The cluster map is disturbing, as are the answers from city officials who just say, "I don't know" about the correlation between the disease and drought.

Maybe more people just need to be aware of all the houses in their neighborhoods that can be mosquito breeding grounds. Such homes are festering wounds that populate vectors of death in our midst.

The government didn't even know Aedes Egytpi mosquitos were the cause of the 1793 Philly epidemics of Yellow Fever. But we know today, that the infectious period then wasn't the result of a wet summer but an especially HOT AND DRY one, thus leaving many stagnant water-filled areas.

Go ahead, look it up... hot and dry leaving a swampy mosquito haven near Philadelphia.

Maybe the local city officials here need to look a little deeper into the history of mosquito-borne illnesses in the history of America to better understand the cluster that we now face today in our own city. And maybe they do need to look at our housing economy right now as well.

And people need to be aware of all the abandoned homes in their areas... even the ones that have had "For Rent" signs for some time...