Spraying continues
as officials await
word on West Nile

A mainland lab may take 10 days
to confirm that a Maui bird
has the potentially lethal virus

WAILUKU » The wild sparrow at the Kahului Airport that tested positive for West Nile virus in a preliminary screening Friday was among the first batch of birds tested on Maui as part of a new state program.

Dead birds sought for testing Hawaii health officials want to test dead birds on all islands as a way to watch for the West Nile virus here. The birds should be whole and recently dead. Birds missing limbs, decomposing or smelling aren't suitable. If you think you have a bird for testing, double bag it in plastic without touching it directly, put it in a cool place and call 211 for instructions on where to take it. People cannot catch West Nile virus from an infected bird. To find out where to drop off dead birds, call 211 or go to www.hawaii.gov/health/ family-child-health/ contagious-disease/wnv/ surveillance/collection-sites For more information see www.hawaii.gov/health or www.cdc.gov . Sources: State Department of Health, federal Centers for Disease Control

State epidemiologist Dr. Paul Effler said the sparrow, caught alive at the Kahului Airport on Monday, was one of 20 birds captured last week at the airport.

Workers normally catch birds to keep airport runways clear, but had not been testing for the West Nile virus, which can be fatal to humans, until recently.

State health officials initiated the testing program at the Honolulu Airport earlier this year, but there have been no positive test results on Oahu.

Yesterday, state health workers sprayed insecticides at Kahului Airport for a second night in an effort to contain what could be the first instance of West Nile virus in Hawaii.

Effler said he was unsure how long the spraying would continue or if it would be expanded to areas outside the airport.

State vector control supervisor Donald Taketa said the insecticide "Permanone 10 % EC" was used to spray large roadside areas.

Vector control inspector James Kaimiola said the insecticide "Aqua-Resilin" was used to kill insects inside the terminal baggage area.

Officials cautioned that it is possible that the screening test on the sparrow could be a false-positive result and that other diseases could trigger a West Nile reading.

The specimens from the sparrow were expected to arrive at a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at Fort Collins, Colo., tomorrow and CDC officials expect it will take seven to 10 days to conduct the laboratory tests to make a final determination of West Nile virus, Effler said.

He said it will take at least a week for the testing to be completed because the process involves the growth of cells and the killing of the virus with antibodies.

"There's only so fast they can go," he said.

Officials also stepped up the capture and testing of birds at Kahului Airport this weekend. Birds are highly susceptible to the disease, which can also infect horses and other animals.

Screening tests for the virus are being conducted at a lab on Oahu on another 20 to 30 birds captured last week at Kahului Airport, including birds captured Friday afternoon after the positive test result, Effler said.

Those results are expected tomorrow.

Hawaii is one of three states, along with Alaska and Washington, that have not seen confirmed cases of the virus.

Last month, the Health Department kicked off a West Nile virus awareness program, alerting physicians to be aware of the symptoms and residents to turn in dead birds for testing.

Effler said health officials are considering expanding the airport West Nile screening program to other neighbor islands.

He said Kahului was selected for the West Nile testing because it has the second-highest volume of air traffic after Honolulu.

Some 2.3 million visitors come to Maui yearly.

Terryl Vencl, executive director of the Maui Visitors Bureau, declined to comment on the positive test of a bird for West Nile virus.

Vencl said nothing was confirmed as of yet regarding the virus, but she was pleased with the response of state health officials.

"I think we need to be vigilant to protect the visitors and the residents," she said.

Kahului Airport, located near a sandy coastline of haole koa and kiawe trees, is near areas where water collects during rains and is within a mile of the Kanaha Pond Wildlife Refuge, frequented by endangered native birds such as the Hawaiian stilt and coot.

The West Nile virus has had a major impact on bird populations on the mainland and could pose a danger to a number of native birds who live at lower elevations, such as the amakihi and apapane, said Lloyd Loope, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

"The West Nile is causing a huge effect on the birds on the mainland," Loope said.

Effler said because Hawaii is isolated from bird populations on the mainland, it stands a good chance of potentially getting rid of bird-carrying illnesses if action is taken swiftly.

He said most of the people who contract the West Nile virus don't even know they have it and only 20 percent develop an illness that has symptoms similar to the flu, with muscle aches, nausea, diarrhea and eye pain.

He said one in 150 might experience severe symptoms such as encephalitis.

West Nile virus is transmitted to humans through mosquitoes and cannot be spread through contact with infected birds or other people.

This year, the disease has killed 53 people, and 662 people have reported getting sick nationwide out of some 1,657 cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Federal agricultural officials said the West Nile virus, an illness spread by mosquitoes found in Africa, Western Asia, the Middle East and Mediterranean region of Europe, was first detected in the United States in 1999.