larger view

Mosquitoes, while small, have caused big problems in Kern. Recently it was West Nile virus, and 70 years ago, it was malaria.

Local history buff George Gilbert Lynch sent me this history on malaria in the county. Interesting reading.

The last epidemic of mosquito-born malaria in Bakersfield occurred as recently as August 1939.

In Thomas Baker's writings, (Colonel Baker's son, who suffered from chronic malaria for years), he stated, "Malaria was epidemic in early Bakersfield from the 1860's through the turn of the century. 'Fever n' ague' was the local name of the debilitating disease. Chills 'n' fever were accepted as a way of life for the small community. Quinine was the generally accepted treatment, but many of the tough old pioneer men believed whiskey was the best cure and they drank their 'medicine' quite freely, but after the hangover, the fever was still present."

The early fever 'n' chills victims had no idea as to what was causing their disease. It was suspected the water was the culprit. Their suspicions were correct, we now know, but in a way they did not understand.

Sloughs ran in every direction around Bakersfield back then and were filled most of the year with stagnant water. This was thought to pollute the drinking water with malaria, which came from wells, many of which were shallow holes of from 10 to 15 feet deep. This conclusion forced many families to haul their drinking from the eastside wells in the foothills.

The "tule fog" that lay in a thin layer on the surface of the ground was also blamed by many to be the cause of the chills 'n' fever. Believers in this myth built their homes on high underpinnings or stilts in order to avoid the evil fog and this feature also helped during the occasional floods.

Of course, we now understand it was the bite of the mosquitoes that bred by the billions in the stagnant water of the sloughs that was the cause of the malaria fever. We now also know many deadly diseases besides malaria were spread by the little blood suckers back then.

"Epizootie" outbreaks were common in the 1870's. Horses and mules died by the thousands during each siege of the disease and later, in the 1930s, Dr. Karl Meyer of Berkley University, during his studies in Kern County, discovered the "Epizootie" disease was in reality, Western Equine Encephalitis. It had also been misdiagnosed for years as polio in hundreds of local patients. The mosquitoes of early Kern were spreading more than the chills 'n' fever; many must have died of this unknown disease in those early days.

The malaria epidemic of 1939 began when members of the mosquito clan of anopleles began biting farm workers north of Bakersfield. The first case of the epidemic was diagnosed at Kern General Hospital on Aug. 23, 1939. Soon 16 more were admitted, and many more were thought to have been unreported. Dr. Joe Smith, county health director, reported an Arkansas man, working in the harvesting north of town, was treated for malaria a month previous and these new cases were from the same agricultural area of Kern. This migrant worker was believed to have brought the disease to our local area from Arkansas.

Within weeks the Kern County Mosquito Abatement crews had located the breeding place of the anopheline mosquitoes, which were carrying the disease. It was a permanent three-mile long slough, along the north bank of  the Calloway Canal, caused by runoff irrigation water. The mosquitoes were breeding in this stagnant water by the millions.

Immediately, county equipment and personnel were at work draining the infested slough into the Calloway Canal, where free of weeds and grass the water could be oiled in order to kill the mosquito larvae. The swift detective work by the Kern County Health Department in locating the infested slough prevented this epidemic from spreading county- or valley-wide.

Next time you see one of those mosquito abatement employees inspecting the drains, give them a courteous thank you for protecting our health by their constant daily fight against the dangerous little demons, which currently can carry West Nile Fever.