Economic Burden of West Nile Virus Disease, Quebec, Canada, 2012–2013

Abstract

The economic burden of West Nile virus (WNV) infection is not known for Canada. We sought to describe the direct and indirect costs of WNV infection in the province of Quebec, Canada, up to 2 years after onset of signs and symptoms. We conducted a retrospective cohort study that included WNV cases reported during 2012 and 2013. For 90 persons infected with WNV, persons with encephalitis accounted for the largest proportion of total cost: a median cost of $21,332 per patient compared with $8,124 for West Nile meningitis (p = 0.0004) and $192 for West Nile fever (p<0.0001). When results were extrapolated to all reported WNV patients, the estimated total cost for 124 symptomatic cases was ≈$1.7 million for 2012 and that for 31 symptomatic cases was ≈$430,000 for 2013. Our study provides information for the government to make informed decisions regarding public health policies and infectious diseases prevention and control programs.

Direct economic burden of patients with autoimmune encephalitis in western China

“…In the present study, the nonmedical direct costs were much lower than the direct medical costs, consistent with a recent economic survey on encephalitis in Canada 16 and our previous study on epilepsy. 17 However, different conditions have been reported by a previous study on MS patients with spasticity in Sweden, 18 indicating that the largest share of total costs was direct nonmedical costs (accounting for 60.0% of the total costs).…”

“…Inpatient costs accounted for a major proportion (92.0%) of the total direct costs, consistent with the findings of 2 surveys on West Nile encephalitis. 16,20 Notably, immunotherapy, which is not normally covered by insurance and imposes a heavy economic burden on patients, accounted for 40.6% of the total direct cost and 44.0% of the inpatient cost in our study. Our study also compared the cost of different kinds of AE.…”

Direct economic burden of patients with tuberculous meningitis in western China

“…To our knowledge, no other study to date has analyzed the proportion of TBM cost. In our study, the inpatient cost accounted for 72.1% of the direct cost and 76.8% of the direct medical cost (Figure 1B), consistent with the results of studies on meningitis 30 and West Nile encephalitis 31,32 . The inpatient cost of TBM in our study was much lower than that in South Africa (USD 6,837 vs. 23,406), 13 which may be due to the different medical environments and lower rate of HIV coinfection (3.9% vs. 8.3%).…”

A 20-year historical review of West Nile virus since its initial emergence in North America: Has West Nile virus become a neglected tropical disease?

“…They determined only 15 cases of WNND needed to be prevented for vector control measures to be considered cost-effective [ 59 ]. A study in Quebec, Canada determined the costs to the region from 2012 to 2013 [ 60 ]. In this study, 90 patients were evaluated retrospectively, and median costs were US$21,332 per encephalitis patient, US$8,124 per meningitis patient, and US$192 per WNF patient.…”

“…In this study, 90 patients were evaluated retrospectively, and median costs were US$21,332 per encephalitis patient, US$8,124 per meningitis patient, and US$192 per WNF patient. Overall, they estimated that approximately US$1.7 million was spent on 124 symptomatic cases in 2012 and US$430,000 on 31 symptomatic cases [ 60 ]. Taking it a bit further, Staples and colleagues estimated both the short- and long-term costs related to an outbreak involving 80 cases in Colorado in 2003.…”