A vector is an organism, such as a mosquito or tick,
that can carry disease-causing microorganisms from from infected
individuals to other persons, or from infected animals to human
beings.
The aim of the Vector Control Branch is to control and prevent the
spread of insects, rodents, or other organisms which are able to
transmit infectious agents of disease.
The Vector Control Branch (VCB) is a statewide
regulatory program, mandated by law, with a large and diverse area of
responsibility. The VCB safeguards public health by ensuring abatement,
containment, eradication, and suppression of disease outbreaks and
alien immigrant insect vectors and zoonotic diseases, reduction of
vector populations, and prevent the of entry of alien species.
Statewide responsibilities have made the vector control program highly
visible.
The VCB operates proactively and invests much time
working with the public and private sectors to prevent vector problems
from developing. Increased attention has been focused towards the
State's programs which address alien species, biological terrorism
threats and responses to requests from citizens and visitors to
Hawaii.
In recent years, the program has also been a
proactive partner with other agencies in responding to public health
and vector control concerns involving a wide variety of subjects (i.e.
rat problems, overpopulation of areas by birds, etc.). This partnership
works collectively to address vector control issues and concerns in
public health and the environment. Partnership agencies include the
State Departments of Agriculture, Attorney General, Transportation, and
Land and Natural Resources, the University of Hawaii, Bishop Museum,
and The Nature Conservancy, among others. This approach is implemented
through inspections, consultations, control and abatement activities,
enforcement, residential surveys, surveillance and applied
research.
Hawaii has had a particularly active past with
regard to the introduction and outbreak of vector borne diseases.
Hawaii was mosquito free before 1826, when the night biting mosquito
arrived. The day-biting mosquitoes reached the islands around
1892-1897.
The most dangerous vector, the yellow fever
mosquito, caused the first suspected cases of yellow fever in Hawaii in
1911. Consequently, a general mosquito control program was started in
the same year. In 1893, Dengue or "Boohoo fever" first appeared in the
islands. In 1903, Hawaii's first big Dengue epidemic occurred,
involving 30,000 cases. Dengue fever broke out again in 1912, and cases
continued to be reported in 1913, 1914, and 1915. The last epidemic was
in 1944, and no cases have been reported since then.
Rodents also played a major role in Hawaii's past.
In 1899, bubonic plague (carried by rats) broke out in the Honolulu
Chinatown district. The district was destroyed by fire, which had been
set in several homes of victims in an attempt to control the
disease.
In the early 1900's, the control of vectors
(principally rodents and mosquitoes) was financed by public-spirited
private efforts, principally through fund-raising by the respective
chambers of commerce. These problems were assumed as territorial
functions by the Board of Health under two separate Bureaus: Rodent
Control and Mosquito Control. In 1970, the two separate Bureaus were
merged into a single state Vector Control Branch. This merge
facilitated program and economic efficiency in the protection and
prevention of vector borne diseases.
"Health State" Ethic
- Sustain and maintain economic effectiveness and maintain Hawaii's
quality of life.
Risk-Based Management
- Identify branch needs and prioritize activities.
- Focus on public needs and concerns and provide prompt response and
service.
- Base decisions on sound scientific principles.
- Simplify actions while incorporating a spectrum of well analyzed
and creative solutions available under the law.
- Develop partnerships with the regulated community.
- Allow voluntary corrective actions regarding violations to foster
trust and cooperation.
- Incorporate input from employees and the regulated community to
improve operations.
- Coordinate and support actions of other programs.
The Vector Control Branch consists of an
Administrative Support Services Section , Training and Research Office,
and three operations sections; East Oahu, West Oahu Section, and
Neighbor Island Units - Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii.
The Administrative Support Services Section provides
administrative support to the Training and Research Office, the
operations sections, and the neighbor island units.
The neighbor islands' Vector Control Units are
assigned under the District Health Office, Environmental Protection and
Health Services organization. Each District Environmental Health
Program chief is responsible for respective island unit activities.
State Laws (Hawaii Revised Statutes -
HRS)
- HRS 321-11, Subjects and Health regulations, generally.
- HRS 321-23, Disinsectization of Aircraft.
- HRS 322, Nuisances; Sanitary regulations.
Administrative Rules
The mission of the State Vector Control Branch
is to provide public health and environmental stewardship to the people
and visitors of Hawaii.
The goal of the Vector Control Branch is to
prevent the occurrence and transmission of vector-borne diseases and
health related injuries to the general public and visitors to the State
of Hawaii.
- Objective:
Prevent, contain and eradicate any outbreaks of rabies, plague,
malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, and other vector-borne
diseases.
Strategies
- Conduct 24,000 statewide vector abatement actions monthly
to maintain mosquito, rodent, and other vector populations below
nuisance or disease transmitting levels.
- Abate 100% of vermin species posing imminent health hazard
in residences of people considered by Vector Control inspectors to be
either mentally, physically, or financially incapable.
- Conduct emergency vector control and eradication
operations during disease outbreaks and natural disasters.
- Provide technical assistance to operational sections
during disease outbreaks.
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Mosquitoes on a person's hand. Smaller mosquito
on the right is engorged with human blood. Disease-carrying mosquitoes
spread disease in this manner.
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- Objective:
Prevent the entry of alien vector species of malaria or
filariasis-transmitting mosquitoes and plague infected
rodents.
Strategies
- Conduct 40 to 50 port-of-entry surveillance and
eradication activities monthly for immigrant vector species by
shipboard and aircraft inspections, disinfections, ovitrappings, rodent
inspections and trappings, and entomological surveys.
- Collect 75 traps at all airports and harbors weekly for
identification and measurement of the population of alien vector
species.
- Objective: Increase efficiency in maintenance of vector populations
below annoyance or disease transmitting levels.
Strategies
- Expeditious and effective response to all vector
complaints, assess problems, and recommend measures for vector control.
Non-compliance with the inspectors' recommendations may result in
enforcement action.
- Investigate and resolve 100% of public complaints of
vector nuisance through education, persuasion, or enforcement
action.
- Provide inspectional and technical advice on vermin
control to households and businesses upon request.
- Conduct 20 to 50 surveys weekly to locate vector breeding
sources that cause nuisances or diseases, and obtain indices of vector
populations to detect and prevent problems before they occur.
- Enforce administrative rules pertaining to insects,
rodents, and other animals of public health concern.
- Verify 75% compliance with rodent control requirements of
City and County demolition permits.
- Conduct 500 to 1000 routine residential inspections yearly
and take a multi-fold survey for the following purposes:
- to determine where mongooses are in a community in order to
eliminate them efficiently during a rabies outbreak;
- to determine the degree of rodent and mongoose problems in each
community;
- to obtain a rodent and mongoose index for each community for future
comparison;
- to determine whether pets, empty lots, streams, and undeveloped
areas are related to rodent and mongoose prevalence in residential
areas; and
- to determine the rate at which rats and mongooses are infected with
leptospirosis.
- Objective:
Educate and inform the public on
effective measures of vector control and prevention of vector-borne
diseases.
Strategies
- Educate 7000 to 8000 members of the general public
annually, by providing information on various vectors (life cycle
habits, control methods, etc.) so they can be more knowledgeable in
solving vermin problems.
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This strategy is attained through:
- consultative personal telephone calls;
- face-to-face meetings during field visits;
- participation in fairs such as pet expositions, community fairs,
etc.; and
- enlightening students as to various careers in the vector control
field.
- Conduct two to five talks annually on vector species and
vector control to various civic groups such as senior citizens groups,
lions clubs, rotary clubs, church organizations, students, businesses,
professional organizations, community groups, etc.
- Prepare manuscripts for publication in scientific and
trade journals.
- Develop informational and training materials for use by
all schools and organizations desiring to promote vector awareness and
self help in the community.
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Mosquito fogging operation, circa 1950.
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- Objective:
Ensure competency and effectiveness of vector
control profession.
Strategies
- Continue to provide 20 to 30 statewide trainings annually,
so that staff are kept abreast of the newest developments in the
field.
- Train, re-examine and re-certify commercial applicators of
restricted (Category 8) pesticides. Vector Control entomologists and
supervisors on each island will conduct training sessions every 5
years. The one-week staff training is followed by a recertification
exam which every trainee must pass with a score of 70% or better, prior
to legally handling and applying any restricted-use pesticide.
- Annually conduct 4 to 12 training sessions for hazards
communication, personal protective equipment (PPE), respiratory
protection, safety and health orientation, back safety, workplace
violence, heat stress, first aid, CPR training, lab safety and medical
monitoring requirements. Training sessions are developed, updated,
scheduled and conducted to ensure that all requirements are met.
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Aerial pesticide application, circa 1950
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- Objective:
Increase efficiency of vector control
through collaboration with other agencies and the regulated
community.
Strategies
- Develop and improve liaison among agencies such as United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA), State Department of
Agriculture, University of Hawaii, Bishop Museum, Department of Land
and Natural Resources, Animal Damage Control, USPHS, etc. This approach
will result in a coordinated and joint working relationship to confine
and eradicate potential vector problems and facilitate a coordinated
response in dire situations or emergencies.
- Continue to assist the Sanitation Branch's Food Safety
Program and the UH's Food Service Department by conducting 40 to 50
lectures annually for food handlers in the state.
- Provide technical assistance to other government agencies,
animal farms, sugar plantations and other businesses upon request or
when resolving public complaints about vector nuisance caused by these
entities.
- Develop and maintain liaison with government and private
agencies to develop joint vector control projects for mutual benefit.
- Objective:
Improve and increase capacity for research and
methodology development.
Strategies
- Conduct 15 to 30 zoonotic laboratory diagnoses daily
through serological, biochemical, and microbiological laboratory
testing of rodents and other reservoir host animals for early detection
or confirmation of zoonotic diseases such as plague, murine typhus,
salmonellosis, and leptospirosis.
- Conduct 1 or more applied research projects annually to
develop control methods to cope with insect immunity to available
pesticides and to develop compliance with regulatory environmental
restrictions on pesticide use.
- Maintain sentinel flocks, and trap birds and small mammals
for serological screening by the laboratory.
- Catalog and maintain the Vector Control Branch's reference
collection of insects of public health importance, and provide
taxonomic identification services of insects and other pests to other
programs and the public.
- Plan, develop, and coordinate at least 1 field
surveillance activity monthly to accumulate data for establishing
vector population estimates.
- Conduct 1 or more evaluations annually of the principal
endemic vector species, including mosquitoes, flies, and rodents, by
using standard techniques and making preliminary identification of all
vector species.
- Conduct post-mortem examinations of rodents, other
animals, and birds for clinical and pathological reactions, and isolate
and identify causative organisms.
- Number of customers served in providing vector related
outreach (information and training).
- Number of public and private complaints to which the
program has responded.
- Number of routine and non-routine abatement activities
conducted statewide.
- Number of sites where abatement activities are conducted
in sea and airport areas.
- Number of zoonotic laboratory tests of rodents or other
reservoir host animals for early detection or confirmation of zoonotic
diseases.
- Number of residential/parks surveys conducted statewide.
The functions of the Vector Control Branch
programs are directly related to and shared by other health and
environmental programs within the department. Specifically, we share
the responsibility of addressing general health and sanitary
responsibilities in dealing with insects and small mammals. We must
therefore ensure that an integrated approach to general health and
sanitary responsibilities is coordinated with these programs.
Current Vector Control rules, HAR 11-26, must be
utilized in all cases involving statewide compliance activities. The
neighbor islands' programs need to consider case development as part of
their strategy and approach in seeking compliance.
The program has experienced more than 40%
statewide position reductions since 1982. In order to fully accomplish
our program functions and responsibilities, our existing staff must
receive additional training and be able to offer a multifunctional
capability. It is possible that during the next four years, the program
will be able to fill all vacancies. It is also anticipated that a 25%
staff turnover will occur. We must continue to acquire the best
qualified people and then invest in training them to be technically
competent in their jobs.
The remaining positions in the branch have had
to perform and account for the additional workload. With the 40%
reduction in general funding, the program must identify and develop
additional funding sources to cover and enhance basic program
operations. The branch must seek all potential sources of funding, i.e.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease
Control. The program should also educate the legislature, the regulated
community and the general public about the benefits of strong
prevention programs and propose expanding those dedicated funding
sources to cover all statewide program elements and operations.
The existing State Vector Control Branch
facility is obsolete and in poor condition. Capitol improvement
resources have been approved by the State Legislature and it is hopeful
a new Vector Control facility will be constructed in the Fiscal Year
2000-2001 time frame. The program must also ensure that the neighbor
island Vector Control facilities are adequate to support current and
future island requirements.
The statewide Vector Control program must obtain
state of the art communications, artificial intelligence, automation
and related new technologies to ensure that our integrated program can
function well into the 21st Century. Being an island state, the
investment in communication systems will streamline and enhance program
efficiency and data information.
We must account for our current mission
responsibilities. We must also be ready and be prepared to assure and
protect public health and environmental safety from disease carrying
vector organisms, and take maximum advantage of the unique
characteristics of our neighbor island units.
99-945 Halawa Valley Street
Aiea, HI 96701
Phone: (808) 483-2535
Fax: (808) 483-2545
Last update: 7 June 2004
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