CDC Blasts DOH - “woefully inadequate”

[Kapoho Joe]

http://health.hawaii.gov/docd/files/2015..._final.pdf

The number of confirmed dengue fever cases on the Big Island stands at 153 as of Tuesday.

That’s up four from Monday.

After spending a couple of weeks on the Big Island, the Centers for Disease Control released it’s report on how the state is responding to the dengue outbreak.

The CDC brought up several serious concerns.

The CDC says “the outbreak response is extremely well organized and serves as a model for others.”

That being said, there are areas of concern the state is working to address.

The most pressing concern is something we reported on several weeks ago, and that is general staffing.

The CDC report sites a staff that is working diligently, but getting fatigued.

It also notes more epidemiologists are needed. Those are disease specialists.

Right now there are only two for the entire state. There is only one full time communications specialist which the CDC labels as “woefully inadequate”.

The state did spent $100,000 to hire an outside public relations firm to assist, and says it is working to implement as many recommendations as possible.

“Currently with our response right now. I think we are meeting responses in terms of the surveys monitoring and identifying what type of mosquito varieties to exist in the areas. But as the response expands as it possibly could, we may need additional support from other agencies like the Department of Agriculture for example as well as the CDC,” said Keith Kawaoka of the Department of Health.

The CDC says long term with so many people traveling here we should also expect to possibly see more vector borne diseases transmitted by insects like mosquitoes.

It also says insect expertise at the Hawaii Department of Health does not exist.

The department is asking for more funding to fill more positions

Kawaoka says CDC representatives will remain on the Big Island for the next couple of weeks.

They will assist in providing additional communications support working directly with Big Island residents and through the local media.


http://khon2.com/2015/12/15/cdc-expresse...-outbreak/

[knieft]

The state did spent $100,000 to hire an outside public relations firm to assist, and says it is working to implement as many recommendations as possible.

Funny stuff to me, in most any tense. Fight the bite, they say. I remember when that first came out thinking what a world. Slogans and graphics. Also hilarious that the CDC calls DOH a model.

Remember that it is a public relations (propaganda) problem, not an infectious disease problem.

Then again, 100k is well over $500/victim so far. Like the DOE, the DOH thinks problems are solved by throwing money at them. When their effectiveness is questioned, the solution is to say they didn't have enough money to throw, so give us some more money.

Like the DOH is supposed to be dengue experts anyway. They have meetings about Pahoa school scraps to attend, non-profits to audit, etc. I wonder who is mostly involved when the plague pops up in the southwest every once in a while. Does the CDC come by to report on how the state is doing, or do they run the show? I have no idea.

But it is clear that most folks think it is the govenment's job to take care of the problem. PM2's trap crusade being a pleasant exception...

Cheers,
Kirt

[PunaMauka2]

"PM2's trap crusade being a pleasant exception..."


Can't take credit for introducing and promoting the use of DIY traps here. I think you may be referring to posts by Punatic007 and one or two other PW members.

[Kapoho Joe]

From the CDC Report -

"Vector control may be particularly problematic in outbreak areas on the Island of
Hawaii. Abundant man-made and natural (e.g., bromeliads) mosquito breeding
sites, particularly considering the dense vegetation around households (see photos
below), make it less likely that sufficient numbers can be eliminated or treated to
significantly impact mosquito breeding. Considering the flight range of vector
mosquitoes, a neighborhood wide approach to adulticiding will likely best reduce
adult mosquito populations. However, the large distances between houses, dense
vegetation, homeowner reluctance (many organic farms in the area and general
opposition to chemicals), homeowner not at home, unoccupied homes, and large
staffing and equipment requirements likely present unsurmountable obstacles to
this approach. "

[pahoated]

The center is definitely in the Captain Crook area. The few cases reported in Puna look like they might have been visiting or work over on the west side. These cases don't happen then continue forever. People get sick for about a week. Haven't seen how long they stay as carriers for uninfected mosquitoes to bite them and become infected. Really have never noticed any of those large brown mosquitoes on the east side at all. That is after seeing swarms of cockroaches coming out of the ground, nine inch centipedes, termites that are 1/8th inch long, bumble bees the size of marbles, at least 4 or 5 different little black biters, flies and mosquitoes. Could be somebody that lived on the west side liked to keep them for pets and brought them down to Hedonezia to be fruitful and multiply. That could happen.

"Aloha also means goodbye. Aloha!"

[Punatic007]

quote:

---

Originally posted by PunaMauka2

"PM2's trap crusade being a pleasant exception..."


Can't take credit for introducing and promoting the use of DIY traps here. I think you may be referring to posts by Punatic007 and one or two other PW members.

---

Yes please make the darn traps and pull out your bromeliads ASAP. It will work, has worked in other countries. We don't worry about all the vacant land, these are domesticated mosquitos, they breed in containers and bromeliads around human habitation and don't fly too far. If you get your immediate area under control as well as surrounding neighbors you'll be pretty safe. If we can get most of the population to do this AND HAVE THE HEALTH DEPT AND SUPPORTIVE GOV AGENCIES DELIVER AND PASS OUT TRAPS we can get rid of the threat.

There's more mosquito spread diseases to come if you don't get with it ASAP. And they make Dengue look like a cake walk.

http://eviloctopus.com/mosquitotrap_v3.pdf

[knieft]

Can't take credit for introducing and promoting the use of DIY traps here. I think you may be referring to posts by Punatic007 and one or two other PW members

Yes, my bad. 007 it is.

Cheers,
Kirt

[kalakoa]

state did spent $100,000 to hire an outside public relations firm

I wonder how many traps they could hand out for $100K.

[kalakoa]

County did finally print up some brochures about the dengue.

For children.

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/news...ngue-fever

[Midnight Rambler]

pahoated: there are four types of mosquitos on the Big Island. If you see them land on you, you can tell them apart by how they look.

The large brown ones you refer to are Aedes japonicus; they arrived here in 2005 and are mostly found around Volcano, because they can tolerate colder temperatures than the other ones. They are mostly brown but if you get a close look you can see they have black and white striped legs like other Aedes species. They're easiest to tell apart because they're twice the size of any of the other mosquitos. It's apparently capable of transmitting some other diseases, but not dengue, or avian malaria.

Aedes albopictus is the common day-biting mosquito. It's mostly black with a single white stripe down the middle of the back, and a few other scattered white marks. Aedes aegypti is also found in a few places in Kona, but it's rare. These are the only ones that transmit dengue.

Culex quinquefasciatus is small and brown. It only comes out to bite at night, so if you get a bite at night - or if you have a hole in your screen and mosquitos flood in your house at night - these are the ones. It's the main vector of avian malaria, but don't transmit any human diseases.

Wyeomyia mitchelli is small and brown like Culex but very distinctive in sitting with the upraised middle legs curled all the way over its body, so that they're pointed forward instead of up as in all the others. It also bites during the day and only breeds water caught in bromeliads and other plants. It too doesn't transmit diseases.

So there you go. If you don't see the black-and-white mosquitos around, you don't have anything to worry about. I checked at my place in Orchidland and found there were only Wyeomyia and Culex. I think Ae. albopictus actually prefers somewhat drier places; on Oahu you find tons of them in damp-but-not-wet areas like the usually-dry shaded gulches of the Waianae mountains.