The avian flu virus will be imported to Hawai'i to train local scientists on how to identify the disease.

The state Board of Agriculture voted 6-1 yesterday to allow the University of Hawai'i to import the virus, which could arrive within several months.

The university wants to develop expertise on detecting the potentially lethal virus, which health officials fear could be the source of a future pandemic. Detecting the virus at a local lab could save time and prevent the virus from spreading, proponents said. Currently, if health officials suspect the avian flu virus has arrived in Hawai'i, samples must be sent to the Mainland for testing.

The UH avian flu project would last for five years and be conducted within a laboratory at the medical school's Kaka'ako campus.

Critics of UH's plan contend that the university should study the virus in Asia and other locations where it already has been discovered, rather than bring it into Hawai'i.

State Sen. Gordon Trimble, R-12th (Waikiki, Ala Moana, Downtown), testified against importing the virus, saying it could damage the image of Hawai'i as a safe tourist destination. The research should not be conducted in a tsunami zone or within close proximity to Waikiki, he said.

"To permit research within a mile and a half of this location runs the risk of rumor," Trimble said.

The board also received about 30 written testimonies, with most opposing importing the virus.

Vivek Nerurkar, a virologist at the University of Hawai'i, said importing the avian flu is needed to train scientists on how to detect the virus when there is a suspicion that it has spread to Hawai'i.

It's inevitable that the avian flu will eventually arrive in Hawai'i carried by infected migratory birds, said Nerurkar. "It will come here; it's just a question of when," said Nerurkar.

If that happens, timely discovery of the flu could prevent the spread of the disease, he said. Currently, the determination of whether a human sample contains the bird flu must be made at a Mainland lab, which could take a week or more, said Nerurkar. If there were a pandemic, it could take even longer to receive results, which could delay a response to an outbreak.

"It's best to do that in the state of Hawai'i," said Nerurkar. "There is no way in a pandemic situation that the U.S. system can handle the analysis."

The avian flu has circulated through bird populations in Asia and parts of Europe but has yet to make an appearance in North America.

While the avian, or bird, flu spreads readily among birds, instances of human-to-human spread of the disease are rare. However, when humans contract the avian flu, the mortality rate is 60 percent, which makes the flu especially deadly.

So far, humans have contracted the virus mainly through contact with poultry. However, health officials worry the avian flu could evolve into a strain that would be highly contagious, possibly leading to a worldwide pandemic. There is no human immunity to the highly pathogenic form of the virus known as H5N1 and no vaccine is available, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Under permit conditions imposed by the Board of Agriculture, UH will conduct laboratory research and inoculation studies only on mice. The permit also places numerous restrictions on the handling and disposal of the virus, which would be obtained from the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and various other laboratories and medical centers worldwide.

Currently, the main source of human infection from the H5N1 virus is close contact with dead or sick birds, according to the World Health Organization. People are especially at risk if they slaughter, defeather, butcher or prepare the infected birds for food. Some 267 people worldwide have been infected by avian flu and 161 have died, WHO reported.

If the current H5N1 virus were introduced into Hawai'i via migratory birds, the impact to humans would be minimal, according to the state Department of Agriculture, since currently the disease does not easily spread among humans. However, the potential impact to Hawai'i's poultry industry could be great. Feral chickens also could be affected, according to the department.

Board member Laurie Ho, who voted against the project, said she did not feel the board was provided sufficient information about the potential impact on native birds if the avian flu imported by UH escaped the laboratory.

UH officials said laboratories that will conduct bird flu research will take numerous measures to secure against natural disaster and terrorist attack. Even if the avian flu escaped from the laboratory, it would quickly die without refrigeration, Nerurkar said.

Someone could "take it out, but if they take it out at room temperature, it won't last long," he said. "Our facility that we have is safe."

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com.