Illness on Maui possibly dengue
Associated Press
WAILUKU, Maui — A suspected case of dengue fever has been reported on Maui, 10 months after state health officials declared Maui and the rest of the state free of the disease.
A Ha'iku woman who recently returned from a visit to Tahiti reportedly is suffering from dengue-like symptoms, but the case hasn't been confirmed, said Dr. Lorrin Pang, the Maui district state health officer.
The Department of Health in May last year declared the state free of the virus after 119 confirmed cases over a six-month period. Most were on Maui, where 89 cases were confirmed. There were 26 cases on O'ahu, four on Kaua'i and none on the Big Island.
As a precaution, health officials sent out crews last week to spray mosquito-breeding areas in the neighborhood where the Ha'iku woman lives.
Dengue fever is spread by mosquitoes that bite an infected person and then carry the virus to another person when the insect bites again. Pang says there is the prospect that dengue could be reintroduced from other parts of the world.
He used the possibility of a new case to stress the Emergency Environmental Workforce's need for more money. The force was established to help prevent the spread of the disease, but money for the program ran out in January.
County Budget Director Danny Agsalog has asked the County Council to waive its rules and immediately approve an administration proposal to channel $225,000 to keep the program alive through the end of June. The council referred the request to the Budget Committee.
Councilmen Wayne Nishiki and Riki Hokama said support for the statewide program should come from the state and not the county.
The Legislature appropriated $1.5 million for the statewide program, but that money ran out last summer. The county then came up with $100,000 to continue the program on Maui, but that money also has run out.
Sen. J. Kalani English, D-6th (E. Maui, Lana'i, Moloka'i), said he will seek state support to continue the program. But he said there is no guarantee that it will be provided.
