<\/p>\n
HONOLULU (AP) \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Hawaii state Sen. Russell Ruderman worries whenever there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a mosquito buzzing in his home.<\/p>\n
Until recently, he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give the common pests much thought, but now his wife is six months pregnant and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a growing dengue fever outbreak on the Big Island, where they live.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It could threaten her pregnancy, as well as her health,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said of the mosquito-borne illness.<\/p>\n
The state Department of Health says there were 101 confirmed cases of dengue fever on the Big Island as of Wednesday.<\/p>\n
It says it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s working with the county to spray 155 properties, including schools, and has started an outreach program to educate people about the illness.<\/p>\n
In addition, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sending an entomologist and a technician to the Big Island next week to further assess the situation.<\/p>\n
However, Ruderman and other Big Island lawmakers say the department is downplaying the problem.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They are not warning people appropriately,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said state Rep. Richard Creagan, a non-practicing physician. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a little outbreak now. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a big outbreak.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Creagan said he wants state health officials to encourage voluntary isolation of people who are infected, be more aggressive about trapping mosquitoes, and warn pregnant women who could suffer complications.<\/p>\n
Symptoms of dengue fever include high fever, headache, nausea, muscle aches, bone and joint pain and rash. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no specific treatment, but bed rest and acetaminophen for fever and pain are recommended.<\/p>\n
Symptoms usually go away completely within 2 weeks.<\/p>\n
The illness is not endemic to Hawaii but can be spread by mosquitoes that bite infected travelers from endemic areas.<\/p>\n
Dr. Lyle Petersen, the director of the CDC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Division of Vector-Borne Diseases who will be on the island next week, previously said the outbreak isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t huge compared to other parts of the world.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The level of alarm is a little higher than it needs to be,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d added state Health Director Dr. Ginny Pressler. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re trying to raise awareness. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not trying to raise fear.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The department received an emergency appropriation of up to $75,000 to hire public relations firm Bennet Group Strategic Communications to help with communications efforts. The firm created the department\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fight the Bite\u00e2\u20ac\u009d campaign to educate people about ways to control mosquitoes.<\/p>\n
The same company was hired to help with a 2001 outbreak that lasted more than eight months, with 92 cases on Maui, 26 on Oahu and four on Kauai.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t they spend one-tenth of that PR money on medical response?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Ruderman asked. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t worry, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re telling us, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no one here on the Big Island who isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t worrying.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Stores are selling lots of bug spray, but residents generally aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t changing their attire in light of the outbreak. Many are still wearing shorts and T-shirts instead of long sleeves and pants, as health officials recommend.<\/p>\n
There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s concern the outbreak will hurt the tourism industry, but officials say they have not seen significant visitor cancelations.<\/p>\n
At the Sheraton Kona Resort Spa at Keauhou Bay, grounds maintenance and landscape workers are taking extra measures to clear standing water that can serve as mosquito-breeding areas, said spokeswoman Katie Vanes.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our associates are prepared to speak with concerned guests, but we have not received a significant or frequent amount of inquiries,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n
Kirstin Kahaloa, executive director of the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce, hopes tourists aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t nervous about visiting the Big Island.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still a safe place to visit as long as you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re following CDC recommendations to be careful,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re here and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re OK. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re taking precautions.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Follow Jennifer Sinco Kelleher at http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/JenHapa. Her work can be found at http:\/\/bigstory.ap.org\/content\/jennifer-sinco-kelleher.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HONOLULU (AP) \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Hawaii state Sen. Russell Ruderman worries whenever there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a mosquito buzzing in his home. Until recently, he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give the common pests much thought, but now his wife is six months pregnant and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a growing dengue fever outbreak on the Big Island, where they live. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It could threaten her pregnancy, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}