State health officials say there have been a dozen confirmed cases of dengue in Hawaiʻi so far this year. All were travel-related.
However, there have been over a hundred suspected cases. The virus is spread through the bite of an infected mosquito and is most common in tropical and subtropical climates. The Department of Health says dengue is not endemic to Hawaiʻi.
Within a week of being bitten, a person's symptoms can include high fever, headache, body aches, nausea and rash.
Matthew Kurano leads the Vector Control Branch at the DOH and spends much of his time thinking about mosquitoes.
"I always envision this little runny nose mosquito, and when that mosquito then bites you, puts its proboscis, its nose, into you, that saliva that carries the virus goes into you and inoculates you, and five days later, you're sick," Kurano said. "By the time we start getting this local transmission, it does become very difficult to chase down."
Two main interventions are isolating people who become sick after traveling to areas known to have dengue, and killing mosquitoes that could transmit dengue.
"When we intervene, we will go out and ask to spray pesticides to knock down the adults. And I know nobody wants over-pesticide usage, but there's a place for all tools. If it means that people aren't going to get sick, if it means we can get those local mosquitoes, the ones that may have just been in your house or in your room, and we can get those taken care of, then, you know, it protects your friends and family and neighbors," Kurano told HPR.
He said local health care providers know to keep an eye out for dengue symptoms, especially in people who have traveled to specific areas. He said dengue cases are found in residents returning home to Hawaiʻi. Once the department learns of a dengue case, there's a threefold response.
Epidemiologists call people to trace possible transmissions. Vector control workers assess the sites, set up mosquito traps, and sometimes canvass the community. And lastly, pesticides are applied to high-risk areas.
As for active mosquito surveillance, Kurano said that's in the works.
"We currently set traps to determine whether certain types of mosquitoes that can carry the disease are present in certain areas, but we haven't been going the next step, which was identifying whether they're carrying the disease. Now, we are very confident that they're not. We have done, in the past, surveillance for that," Kurano said.
"Government gets criticized for being so reactive, reactive, reactive. So when we have the opportunity and when we know that there's a clear and present threat, you know, we have to be proactive, and so that's what we're setting up," he added.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Sept. 9, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
