The state Department of Health is advising Hawaii residents to be wary of Zika virus transmission, especially when traveling to areas where the virus is known to be spreading.
The state Department of Health is advising Hawaii residents to be wary of Zika virus transmission, especially when traveling to areas where the virus is known to be spreading.
The agency is working to keep the mosquito-borne disease — which recently was confirmed to be spreading via the insects in Florida — from becoming established in the Hawaiian Islands.
Dr. Sarah Park, state epidemiologist, said although Zika isn’t endemic to Hawaii, the potential for an outbreak still exists. Dengue fever isn’t endemic to the Islands, but more than 260 cases were confirmed during the outbreak here in late 2015 and early 2016.
The department is “all about trying to prevent what we’re now seeing in Florida,” Park said Tuesday about the state agency’s efforts.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued a notice advising pregnant women to avoid traveling to the Wynwood neighborhood in Miami, where the first cases of Zika being spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito on the mainland were recently confirmed.
Anybody who contracts Zika and returns to Hawaii should take extra care to avoid mosquitoes here and areas where mosquitoes might breed. Park said when travelers return, there are still precautions that can be taken, especially if someone is infected.
Mosquitoes that bite an infected person could become infected themselves, making them vectors for the disease, which then can spread it locally.
“The disease travels not because of vectors, but because of us,” Park said. “We travel and we bring it home if we’re not careful.”
Park said both species of mosquito found in Hawaii — including the Aedes aegypti — are capable of transmitting Zika, meaning it’s important for the Health Department to get ahead of any potential infections.
And it’s not just Zika they’re focused on, she said. Diseases such as chikungunya and dengue fever also are transmitted via mosquitoes.
“We know that we are at risk for introduction for any of those,” she said.
The federal government recently awarded $3.7 million to the state DOH to fight infectious diseases such as Zika, dengue and hepatitis A, an outbreak of which the state now is battling. State Health Director Virginia Pressler said Tuesday the money will help Hawaii investigate the hepatitis A outbreak and also help efforts to prevent local transmissions of the Zika virus.
The Health Department urged state residents traveling to the Olympics in Brazil, which is battling a Zika outbreak of its own, to prevent mosquito bites to reduce the risk of contracting the virus and bringing it back to Hawaii.
Officials say anyone returning to Hawaii from areas affected by the Zika virus should see a doctor if they fall ill within two weeks of returning home.
The money also allows the state to be less reliant on mainland labs for testing specimens, saving time in the process.
Park said given the overarching efforts to tackle mosquito-borne diseases as a whole rather than Zika alone, the recent dengue outbreak brought much needed attention to the public health risk mosquitoes present.
“The dengue outbreak really reminded us why we need to be cautious about mosquitoes,” said Park.
As a result, she said, the state’s efforts also involve changing the public’s mindset about mosquitoes.
Park said the approach is less about treating mosquitoes as a simple nuisance and more about treating them as the disease carriers they are.
“And treat them as such,” she said.
“Hawaii is fortunate none of these diseases are endemic or native to our state, and we need to work together to make sure it stays this way,” said Gov. David Ige in a news release at the end of June when the state relaunched its “Fight the Bite” campaign. “We are part of a nationwide effort to combat diseases spread by mosquitoes, and with the Department of Health leading the charge to bring partners together to raise awareness about mosquito prevention, I’m confident that communities will come together, as our state and county leadership have done, to ensure the safety of our Islands.”
While the DOH continues to monitor the Zika situation, Park said, Hawaii residents can fight the bite to prevent the spread themselves.
“The first step is to practice ongoing mosquito prevention,” Park said.
For more information about mosquito-borne diseases and how to prevent them and the state’s response plan for them, visit www.FightTheBiteHawaii.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Email Cameron Miculka at cmiculka@westhawaiitoday.com.