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West Nile virus in Hawai'i?

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  • West Nile virus in Hawai'i?

    I really hope, for the sake of Hawai'i, that the dead sparrow discovered at Kahului Airport and which tested positive for West Nile virus is found in a couple of weeks to be a false positive.

    West Nile virus is really only deadly to older people, infants and those with suppressed immune systems (healthy adults may suffer symptoms similar to the flu), but once it's confirmed to be in the area, you will never be able to get rid of it. It may also endanger your endangered native bird population, too. Up here on the Mainland, we have a cold season so the mosquitos die off until warmer weather, but you guys over there are plagued by mosquitos year round with your temperate climate.

    If you remember the dengue fever plague on Maui a couple of years ago, West Nile will be much more problemmatical and harder to eradicate.

    A simple thing you can do: remove all standing water. Mosquitos especially love to breed in things like old tires, cans filled with rainwater, etc. If you have fishponds, you can get commercial surfactants that will kill mosquitoes but spare fish and plants.

    Please kokua and reduce the possibility of infectious, bird borne viruses in Hawai'i.

    Mahalo,
    Miulang

    News story: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar.../ln/ln07a.html
    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

  • #2
    Re: West Nile virus in Hawai'i?

    They reported on the news that preliminary results say the bird did have West Nile virus. Then they showed the guys who were going to start spraying the area that the bird was found in. Let's hope they can control the spread. Is it really that simple to PREVENT the virus? Just check around the areas that may have stagnant water and keep them free of standing water? That should be easy enough to remember to do.
    We've been lucky in that it's been dry lately but with showers coming back guess we have to be more diligent.
    Mahalo for all the tips.
    Retired Senior Member

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    • #3
      Re: West Nile virus in Hawai'i?

      Originally posted by Mocha
      They reported on the news that preliminary results say the bird did have West Nile virus. Then they showed the guys who were going to start spraying the area that the bird was found in. Let's hope they can control the spread. Is it really that simple to PREVENT the virus? Just check around the areas that may have stagnant water and keep them free of standing water? That should be easy enough to remember to do.
      We've been lucky in that it's been dry lately but with showers coming back guess we have to be more diligent.
      Mahalo for all the tips.
      Hui Mocha:
      The confirmatory results on that first dead sparrow still have not come in yet, but according to yesterday's Maui News, they caught about 20 more birds (live ones) and none of them had the disease. So we can only hope that that first dead sparrow is a false-positive.

      That doesn't mean that people who have yards with fishponds and tires and barrels filled with rainwater should get complacent, though. Most epidemiologists figure it's just matter of time before it will be totally endemic throughout the US (including Hawaii). You might not prevent it from ever reaching Hawaii, but you certainly could slow its spread down by keeping standing water from accumulating!

      A hui hou,
      Miulang
      "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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      • #4
        Re: West Nile virus in Hawai'i?

        The official results from CDC are in, and they're negative. Whew. No WNV in Hawai'i, after all... at least, not yet.

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