Foreclosed Backyard Swimming Pools Spreading West Nile Virus in California

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — William S. Haraf, California Commissioner of Financial Institutions, made a formal request to DFI licensees today: help stop the spread of the West Nile Virus. The mosquito-spread disease is advancing at a rapid pace in California, thanks in part to swimming pools on empty, foreclosed properties that serve as breeding grounds.

Starting tomorrow, the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District will aerially treat approximately 23,000 acres of South Sacramento for adult mosquitoes for three consecutive nights. Governor Schwarzenegger previously declared a state of emergency last August for counties hit hardest by West Nile Virus. So far in 2008, California has recorded two human cases of the virus, with 25 counties reporting positive hits among tested mosquitoes, birds and mammals.