PLAGUES & PESTILENCES: Escalation In Mosquito-Borne Diseases Continue - Hawaii's Governor David Ige Declares STATE OF EMERGENCY To Fight Zika Virus And Dengue Fever Outbreak!

© Jim Gathany / Reuters

February 13, 2016 - HAWAII - Hawaii has declared a state of emergency in a move to fight and prevent mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever and the Zika virus, which the state’s governor called a threat to public health and welfare.

“We are doing everything we can to be prepared, to be proactive, to prevent vector-borne diseases here in Hawaii,” Gov. David Ige said in a proclamation he signed Friday.

So far, Hawaii has not seen cases of the Zika virus transmission, but it is on standby following a decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to put emergency centers on a Level 1 alert last week.

But there is an ongoing outbreak of dengue fever at Big Island, where there were more than 250 confirmed cases. One of the major concerns now is that mosquitoes that can carry dengue fever also can carry the Zika virus, which potentially puts the island at risk.

There are also flights between American Samoa, one of the Pacific islands affected by a Zika outbreak, and Hawaii.

Tourists and locals watch the sunset from White Sands Beach Park in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, January 31, 2016. © Canice Leung / Reuters

“Hawaii Emergency Management Agency will be working with all the county mayors and the county civil defense coordinators to ensure that statewide we are ahead of the game and proactive in responding to vector-borne diseases,” the governor said.

The emergency proclamation means that Hawaii will have access to the Major Disaster Fund, granting it an option to acquire more funds to control outbreaks and waive certain laws and regulations if necessary.

"One of the things that this emergency declaration from the governor will allow us to do is that we can in fact enforce that we will come and take care of mosquitoes on a property that someone is refusing, because it is a public health emergency,” Virginia Pressler, director of the Department of Health said, AP reported.

In particular the authorities would be able to use insecticides on private property, regardless of an owner’s objection.

According to Pressler, understaffed due to financial problems, the state’s health regulator is now searching to hire more medical workers and scientists with the newly released funds from the governor.

Gov. Ige has said the state will begin to survey the community to verify the particular mosquito species and determine their locations. Then it will work out and implement plans for their “management, eradication and treatment,” he said. - Hawaii.

PLAGUES & PESTILENCES: Dengue Fever Outbreak On Hawaii's Big Island - State Of Emergency Declared!

February 9, 2016 - BIG ISLAND, HAWAII - The mayor of Hawaii's Big Island declared a state of emergency on Monday to deal with a growing outbreak of dengue fever, spread by infected mosquitoes, with 250 cases confirmed over the past four months.

As a result of Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi's order people on the Big Island will be allowed to resume disposing of old tires in landfills, since tires which are left lying around are a known breeding spot for mosquitoes.

There have been 250 confirmed cases of dengue fever on the island since Oct. 29, making it the largest outbreak in the state since the 1940s, according to the mayor's declaration and Hawaii health officials.

Dengue fever causes flu-like symptoms and can develop into the deadly dengue hemorrhagic fever.

Hawaii Governor David Ige said in a statement he supported the efforts on the Big Island but would not issue a statewide emergency declaration unless the outbreak spread to other islands or expanded to include other diseases, such as the Zika virus.

Zika is spreading rapidly in South and Central America and the Caribbean and has been linked to severe birth defects in Brazil.


WATCH: Dengue Fever Press Conference.

Last month, a baby born with brain damage at a hospital in Oahu, Hawaii, was apparently the first case of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in a birth on U.S. soil, health officials said.

Dengue is not endemic to Hawaii but has occasionally spread after being imported by infected travelers. The outbreak on the Big Island is the first cluster of locally-acquired dengue fever since a 2011 outbreak on Oahu, the Hawaii Department of Health said. - Yahoo.

PLAGUES & PESTILENCES: United Nations - MILLIONS COULD DIE From Future Global Pandemic Unless World Health Organization URGENTLY Reforms!

February 9, 2016 - HEALTH - A future global epidemic could result in millions of deaths according to a new UN report, which would be far worse than the recent Ebola outbreak in Africa. The study also urges the World Health Organization to reform in order to be ready to combat future crises.

The report, entitled “Protecting Humanity from Future Health Crises,” is particularly relevant following the outbreak of the Zika virus in South and Central America. The study has been critical of the World Health Organization (WHO) and its response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which killed more than 11,000 people.

The UN panel is urging the body to reform in order to prevent future outbreaks, which could have dire consequences, with the report stating that if a highly pathogenic influenza virus was to surface, it could “rapidly result in millions of deaths,” as well as causing “social, economic and political disruption.”

Worryingly still, the report, which has been posted online in advanced, unedited form in the UN’s Daily Journal, mentions that this is “not an unlikely scenario.”

“The high risk of major health crises is widely underestimated, and … the world’s preparedness and capacity to respond is woefully insufficient. Future epidemics could far exceed the scale and devastation of the west Africa Ebola outbreak,” the chair of the panel, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete stated.

The world’s attention is now focused on the Zika virus, which has been spreading from Brazil. Countries in the region have been caught off guard due to a lack of understanding about the disease, which has been linked to thousands of cases of brain damage in new born babies in the region.

A WHO spokeswoman told Reuters that the organization sprang into action following the outbreak of the virus, with the body working together to try and combat its effects.

She added that the WHO "is fully committed to urgently reforming our emergency work to address all emergency health risks and events in a predictable, capable, dependable, flexible and accountable manner.”

Among the recommendations from the UN panel was the need for the WHO to build a new Center for Emergency Preparedness and Response, which "must have real command and control capability, access to specialized human and operational resources to execute a health response.”

The report also mentioned that there needs to be greater coordination in fighting global outbreaks and is "convinced that there is no substitute for having a single global health leader" and that "the World Health Organization should become this leader.”

Since the turn of the century, the world has witnessed a number of epidemics, which include four major outbreaks of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in Saudi Arabia and South Korea, the pandemics of H1N1 and H5N1 influenza, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The report says that these are all a “stark reminder” of the threat posed by emerging communicable diseases to humanity.

Jeremy Farrar, the director of the Wellcome Trust charity has welcomed the moves put forward by the panel, while also stating that there is a general consensus that action needs to be taken and that organizations are learning from the mistakes that were made during the Ebola outbreak.

"Epidemic and pandemic diseases are among the greatest of all threats to human health and security, against which we have for too long done too little to prepare," he said, as cited by Reuters.

"After four inquiries into the preventable tragedy of Ebola, there is now a strong consensus about what must be done. The WHO’s leadership and member states must make 2016 the year of decision and act now." - RT.