The university wants to develop ways to detect the potentially lethal virus, which health officials fear could be the source of a future pandemic. The avian flu circulates through bird populations in Asia and parts of Europe, but has yet to make an appearance in North America.

While the avian, or bird flu spreads readily among birds, instances of human to human spread of the disease are rare. However, when humans contract the avian flu the mortality rate is 60 percent, which makes the flu especially deadly.

Critics of UH's plan contend that the university should study the virus in Asia and other locations where it already has been discovered, rather than bring it into Hawai'i. However, it's inevitable that the avian flu will eventually arrive in Hawai'i carried by infected migratory birds, said university Professor Vivek Nerurkar.

"It's just a question of when," said Nerurkar, a virologist at the university.

If that happens, timely discovery of the flu could prevent the spread of the disease. Currently, the determination of whether a human sample contains the bird flu must be made at a Mainland lab, which could take a week or more, said Nerurkar. If there were a pandemic, it could take even longer to receive results.