Maui examines another
28 birds for West Nile
None in the most recent batch
show signs of the virus
WAILUKU » State health officials said an additional 28 birds captured at Kahului Airport on Maui and examined last weekend showed no signs of having the potentially deadly West Nile virus.
The additional screening means only one out of 48 birds captured at the airport has tested positive in a preliminary check for the mosquito-borne virus.
"I think it's good news that we have not found additional birds, but I don't know if we can read anything into it at this point," said state health spokeswoman Janice Okubo.
"We're still hopeful that West Nile is not there on Maui, but until we get the confirmation, we are continuing to collect birds."
A wild sparrow, one of 20 birds examined last week, tested positive for the virus in a preliminary test.
Blood specimens of the sparrow have been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at Fort Collins, Colo., to determine if the preliminary test was correct, authorities said.
Laboratory testing of the sparrow specimens in Colorado is expected to take seven to 10 days.
State vector control workers sprayed the airport area with insecticide to control the mosquito population on Friday and Saturday nights after finding a positive test for the virus.
Gov. Linda Lingle said the state is waiting for confirmation of the test before deciding whether to expand spraying beyond the airport area.
Federal agricultural officials regularly capture birds to clear the runways on all islands.
Since earlier this year, state health officials have been taking blood specimens of the captured birds at Honolulu Airport as part of their surveillance of the West Nile virus.
Health officials expanded the testing to Maui last week, and the sparrow, which was among the first batch, tested positive for the disease.
Federal workers have also been collecting dead birds at airports on all major islands, but none have tested positive, authorities said.
Duane Gubler, a former CDC official who helped direct the national effort to control the West Nile virus, said the state has taken the right steps to try to halt the disease from establishing itself on Maui.
Gubler, director of the Asia-Pacific Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the University of Hawaii's John A. Burns School of Medicine, said besides the surveillance of dead and captured birds, the state has been testing and controlling the mosquito population around the Honolulu and Maui airports.
Gubler said testing captured birds is not the best indicator for determining the presence of West Nile virus.
He said the best indicator is in testing for the virus in dead birds, and the second-best method is testing for the virus in mosquitos.
Gubler said birds are susceptible to the disease and have taken from five to six days to die after being infected with the virus in laboratory tests.
www.state.hi.us/health/
