Hawaii News Now For the first time ever, Hawaii’s Department of Health believes they’ve detected H5 Avian influenza from a wastewater site on Oahu.
DOH did not immediately provide the location of the site.
Officials say the specimen was collected on Nov. 7 and DOH received the result Tuesday.
H5N1, also called Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) is one type of H5 avian influenza. DOH says they’re unable to confirm if this detection is HPAI and say further investigation is needed.
A nationwide outbreak of H5N1 has been spreading among birds and mammals, but officials says there’s no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission of H5N1 in the United States.
DOH says Hawaii has been the only state without H5N1 detected in birds or animals and there are no reports of human or animal H5N1 cases in Hawaii.