HONOLULU (KHON2) — Avian influenza is spreading in the islands for the first time and Hawaii Department of Agriculture officials said Hawaii is the last of the 50 states to detect the disease.
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Local experts said the risk remains low for humans, but it is still smart to remain vigilant.
Local veterinarians said some avian flu variants are not so bad, while others are aggressive.
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“And the one we have right now is highly aggressive and especially extremely devastating to the poultry industry. It can kill almost all the birds in a flock very quickly when it gets into it,” said Feather & Fur medical director Dr. Brian Walsh.
Positive samples of avian flu from the Wahiawa wastewater facility were confirmed on Thursday, Nov. 7 and avian flu was detected just over a week later at a Wahiawa duck sanctuary.
Officials confirmed on Monday, Nov. 25 that a wild duck on Oahu’s north shore also tested positive for the virus — human symptoms should look something like a regular flu.
“Nausea, fever, again, the risk of getting infected from infected animals is low. Unless you have that close contact,” said UH assistant microbiology professor Dr. Michael Morris.
Hawaii Department of Agriculture officials have not confirmed why the infected duck on the North Shore was tested, other than saying that the sample was dropped off to them by a federal wildlife biologist. Experts said the disease likely came here through an infected bird that migrated.
“And so some duck managed — or some bird of some sort, we don’t really know, migratory bird — brought it to Hawaii. So, the odds of it having just gone only to that one sanctuary and not gone anywhere else is pretty low,” said Dr. Walsh.
Experts said that the risk to humans is still relatively low in Hawaii, but they still advised folks to call authorities before handling any dead animals — especially dead birds — by themselves.
“So I mean, this the general, it would be just the general common sense thing. You know, avoid dead birds, avoid wild birds,” Dr. Walsh said.
“I would say call your local state authorities. Let them handle it,” Dr. Morris said. “That is the concern, is over time with enough exposures, right, you could have an avian influenza jump from a bird to a cow, a cow to a human and so on. And so that is the concern. That is why the state and federal authorities have, you know, taken care of the infected animals.”
Federal agencies like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are also involved in the local response.
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