Some Riverside residents want potential mosquito breeding sites removed from their neighborhood after at least two people have suffered serious health impacts from West Nile virus.

Signs went up throughout the Victoria neighborhood last fall warning people to enter the area with caution after mosquitoes tested positive and at least two neighbors were diagnosed with the disease as the disease ramped up in California.

The two neighbors – one a retired doctor – and their spouses believe others living nearby have the disease, whose symptoms don’t show in most cases. The couples also fear more residents could become infected by mosquitoes hatched in standing water in neighborhood arroyos.

A Riverside County public health official said there’s no evidence of a West Nile cluster.

A mosquito control official said they’ve been larviciding there regularly, mosquito numbers are down and none tested positive for West Nile this year.

Electrical contractor Greg Stoever, 63, said he discovered standing water in two blocked storm drains and two arroyos below each drain last fall after his wife, Mary Anne, was hospitalized and diagnosed with West Nile virus Sept. 4, 2015.

“Our life has been ruined by this. I don’t want one more person to go through what we have,” he said.

DOESN’T REMEMBER A BITE

Mosquito-borne illness including West Nile and Zika will be among the topics Wednesday, Sept. 21, at Ward 3 City Councilman Mike Soubirous’ first town hall meeting for residents.

Soubirous said city and vector control officials will speak briefly and residents can ask questions about a range of issues at the 6:30 p.m. meeting at the Janet Goeske Center, 5257 Sierra St., Riverside.

Stoever said he’s worked for at least a year to get the water cleaned up after his wife, a San Bernardino County child protective services supervisor, was debilitated by neurological problems from West Nile. Now 63, she is fatigued, off balance and walks with a cane half the time.

The Stoevers’ neighbor, retired Riverside pediatrician Dr. Herbert Metsch, said he doesn’t remember being bitten by a mosquito before he too, was diagnosed with West Nile last September.

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His wife, Kathy Metsch, insisted he be tested for West Nile because she knew other neighbors had the virus. Herbert Metsch, 82, also was left with extreme fatigue and a lack of balance that makes walking hard. He and his wife are concerned about the arroyos’ standing water.

The elderly and very young are among those most at risk for serious illness from potentially deadly West Nile.

Symptoms can include fever, headache, body aches, joint pains, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, fatigue and weakness. Serious neurological symptoms can include neck stiffness, disorientation, coma, tremors, seizures or paralysis.

Mosquitoes have been found to be breeding in water in the arroyos and there were unusually high mosquito counts in the neighborhood last year, said Northwest Mosquito and Vector Control District vector ecologist Michelle Brown.

There’s no evidence of a cluster of West Nile cases in that area, said Riverside County Director of Disease Control Barbara Cole.

Extra surveillance was done to find potential sources.

Technicians went door to door looking for stagnant water. They also sprayed to kill adult mosquitoes in the Victoria neighborhood four times in 2015, Brown said.

Sixteen sites have gotten rotating larvicide treatment in the last two months. No spraying has been needed in the area this year, she added.

The neighborhood has seven traps, with three set and checked weekly or biweekly. One is near a storm drain that sometimes collects water near a masonic temple. Another is on Brisa Court near near the Stoevers’ house and an arroyo.

The Brisa Court trap caught 53 mosquitoes overnight in early September 2015. The same trap contained four mosquitoes in a one-night catch Sept. 7, 2016, Brown said.

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UPCOMING MEETING

Stoever said both arroyos have standing water, and two storm drains leading to them do when it rains. Debris was cleared from one drain recently, he added.

He believes concrete runoff channels or pipes should be installed to eliminate stagnant pools.

One stagnant water complaint out of 35 in the neighborhood in 2015 and 2015 involved an arroyo and most others were swimming pools. Vector control treated arroyo water for mosquitoes, code enforcement Director Gary Merk said.

Soubirous has arranged to check out the arroyos and a ditch next to the Stoevers’ house Wednesday, Sept. 28, with Greg Stoever, city public works staff and Northwest vector control. They also met two months ago, and late last year at City Hall.

“I appreciate his endeavors in bringing this to our attention,” said Soubirous, who thought county flood control might be part of a solution.

Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District Assistant Chief Engineer Bob Cullen said that’s unlikely.

Natural water courses like arroyos are nearly all on private property in cities and counties. Cities often own storm drain works, he said.

City public works Director Kris Martinez said city officials’ goal for Sept. 28 is to hear Stoever’s concerns and proposed solutions, and have the “right people” assess what can be done.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9444 or shurt@scng.com