Introduction

What is a Vector?

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.

Background

Historical Perspective
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.

VCB Management Principles

"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.

Organizational Structure

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.

Legal Authority

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

• Hawaii Administrative Rules (HAR) Title 11, Chapter 11-26, Vector Control

Strategic Issues

Mission
The mission of the State Vector Control Branch is to provide public health and environmental stewardship to the people and visitors of Hawaii.

Goal
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.

Program Objectives and Strategies 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.

Mosquitoes on a person's hand. Smaller mosquito on the right is engorged with human blood. Disease-carrying mosquitoes spread disease in this manner.

2. Objective:
   Prevent the entry of alien vector species of malaria or filariasis-transmitting mosquitoes and plague infected rodents.

Strategies

1. 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.
   
   
2. Collect 75 traps at all airports and harbors weekly for identification and measurement of the population of alien vector species.

   
   
   

3. Objective: Increase efficiency in maintenance of vector populations below annoyance or disease transmitting levels.

Strategies

1. 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.
   
   
2. Investigate and resolve 100% of public complaints of vector nuisance through education, persuasion, or enforcement action.
   
   
3. Provide inspectional and technical advice on vermin control to households and businesses upon request.
   
   
4. 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.
   
   
5. Enforce administrative rules pertaining to insects, rodents, and other animals of public health concern.
   
   
6. Verify 75% compliance with rodent control requirements of City and County demolition permits.
   
   
7. 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. 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.

Mosquito fogging operation, circa 1950.

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.

Aerial pesticide application, circa 1950

6. Objective:
   Increase efficiency of vector control through collaboration with other agencies and the regulated community.

Strategies

1. 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.
   
   
2. 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.
   
   
3. 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.
   
   
4. Develop and maintain liaison with government and private agencies to develop joint vector control projects for mutual benefit.

   
   
   

7. Objective:
   Improve and increase capacity for research and methodology development.

Strategies

1. 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.
   
   
2. 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.
   
   
3. Maintain sentinel flocks, and trap birds and small mammals for serological screening by the laboratory.
   
   
4. 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.
   
   
5. Plan, develop, and coordinate at least 1 field surveillance activity monthly to accumulate data for establishing vector population estimates.
   
   
6. 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.
   
   
7. Conduct post-mortem examinations of rodents, other animals, and birds for clinical and pathological reactions, and isolate and identify causative organisms.

Performance Measures

1. Number of customers served in providing vector related outreach (information and training).
   
   
2. Number of public and private complaints to which the program has responded.
   
   
3. Number of routine and non-routine abatement activities conducted statewide.
   
   
4. Number of sites where abatement activities are conducted in sea and airport areas.
   
   
5. Number of zoonotic laboratory tests of rodents or other reservoir host animals for early detection or confirmation of zoonotic diseases.
   
   
6. Number of residential/parks surveys conducted statewide.

   
   

Future Issues

1. Integration within the Department and with other Federal and State Counterparts
   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.
   
   
2. Regulatory Implementation of Rules
   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.
   
   
3. Acquire and Train Technically Qualified and Competent Staff
   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.
   
   
4. Funding to Support Mission Implementation
   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.
   
   
5. Obtaining and Maintaining Adequate Facilities
   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.
   
   
6. State of the Art Technology
   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.
   
   
7. Vector Control Branch Mission
   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

 

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Last update: 7 June 2004


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