HI SCR121

Senate Concurrent Resolution 121 urges the Department of Health to plan and establish a response team for vector-borne illnesses including dengue fever, chikungunya, and zika virus.

Hawaii's geographic isolation and tropical climate create conditions favorable for breeding Aedis aegypti mosquitoes, which transmit dengue fever, chikungunya, and zika; the mosquito species was rediscovered in Hawaii in 2012 after being thought extinct since 1949.

Dengue fever, chikungunya, and zika are incurable diseases without vaccines that cause severe symptoms including high fever, joint pain, neurological complications, and in zika's case, increased risk of microcephaly in fetuses.

Hawaii's Vector Control Unit was reduced by approximately 50 percent in 2009, leaving only 4 workers for Oahu, 2 for Maui County, 2 for Hawaii County, and 4 for Kauai County, creating inadequate staffing relative to population growth.

Certified copies of the resolution are directed to be transmitted to the Governor, Director of Health, and Hawaii's congressional delegation.