The headlines across the country this past week included California declaring an emergency because of the spread of avian flu — as well as the first severe case in a human in Louisiana.
Hawaiʻi's first positive test for avian flu in a bird was in November.
The National Wildlife Disease Program, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, monitors diseases like avian flu. Julianna Lenoch, the program coordinator, said the department has been doing surveillance for avian flu for about 19 years. The current outbreak was first detected in the U.S. in January 2021.
She said that they plan to collect 40,000 samples from the continental U.S. For Hawaiʻi though, she shared that there are opportunities to send in samples. But there is no quota because the disease was just detected in the islands last month.
"Hawaiʻi is a little bit of a special case. The big picture surveillance is done differently at different times of year and based on opportunities, it focuses on migratory waterfowl, dabbling ducks — those are like mallards and pintails and teal," she said.
"We try to capture them across space and time to get a good scientific representation — if we are getting detections, which bird, where it might be going, if the virus is changing in any way — and communicate to our wildlife partners, our domestic bird, our poultry partners, and our human health counterparts if we're seeing any changes in the virus or methods of spread," she said.
She said the arrival of avian flu to Hawaiʻi is a concern in itself. The geographic separation protected Hawaiʻi for a long time.
"We have seen this virus spill over into wild mammals and you've got some unique wild mammal populations also in Hawaiʻi. We've seen reports, both in the United States and globally, of marine mammal mortality events in sea lions and different seal species," she said.
Lenoch said the program is also focused on supporting laboratories and coordinating with public health officials to ensure strong situational awareness.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Dec. 23, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
