ASSOCIATED PRESS Registered nurse Belinda Lee held a specimen bag used for gathering medical data yesterday in front of a mobile airport medical van on the tarmac of Honolulu Airport.

Tests find airport bird flu-free

The first week of state viral screening passes without any problems

Sick passengers examined for bird flu during the past week at the nation's first airport surveillance clinic have tested negative, health officials said yesterday.

Officials did not say how many passengers who arrived at the Honolulu Airport clinic with flu-like symptoms agreed to be tested for the disease's virulent strain.

But test results showed that those who did volunteer nose or throat specimens were not infected, said Dr. Catherine Chow, a medical prevention officer for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who is assigned to the state Health Department.

The new agreement between the Health Department and the Queen's Medical Center, which operates the airport clinic, is aimed at preventing a potential pandemic of the virus, which has devastated Asia's poultry flocks and killed at least 62 people since 2003.

The virus has only affected those who have been in contact with birds, but there is concern it could mutate and spread from person to person.

At the Honolulu airport, everyone from flight attendants to vendors at terminals have been trained to respond to an emergency. An international gate set aside to possibly quarantine an entire flight could also serve as a medical center, officials said.

"Hawaii's geographic location is very important," said Chow. "This is a very important addition to our influenza surveillance throughout the state."

Sick passengers are not required to undergo testing. They could be referred to the hospital's airport clinic by the CDC's quarantine station, by an airline or from anywhere in the airport, officials have said.

"You have to come from a targeted area; you have to have the right symptoms," said the CDC's Robert Tapia.

Detailed passenger information allows health officials to contact patients with their results about three days after being tested. If a test returns positive, officials would begin disease control and containment activities if necessary, said state Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo, who could not immediately say how much the program has cost the state.

Meanwhile, Tapia said there has been "very serious talk" between the CDC and the World Health Organization to establish similar programs in as many airports as possible, especially in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia.

The WHO estimates that about 60 percent of countries have a pandemic preparedness plan, but in most cases they have not been tested on a regular basis.

Estimates of the number of people who would die in a new pandemic have varied widely between 2 million and 360 million, but the WHO says a reasonable maximum would be 7.4 million.