Year: 2003
Type: article
Abstract: To assess the total medical costs and productivity losses associated with the 1993 waterborne outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, including the average cost per person with mild, moderate, and severe illness, we conducted a retrospective cost-of-illness analysis using data from 11 hospitals in the greater Milwaukee area and epidemiologic data collected during the outbreak.The total cost of outbreak-associated illness was $96.2 million: $31.7 million in medical costs and $64.6 million in productivity losses.The average total costs for persons with mild, moderate, and severe illness were $116, $475, and $7,808, respectively.The potentially high cost of waterborne disease outbreaks should be considered in economic decisions regarding the safety of public drinking water supplies.C ryptosporidium parvum, a protozoan parasite that causes gastrointestinal illness, is transmitted by ingestion of oocysts excreted in human or animal feces.Typical modes of transmission include person to person, animal to person, by exposure to contaminated surfaces, and by ingestion of impure food or water (1).From 1990 to 2000, at least 10 cryptosporidiosis outbreaks associated with contaminated drinking water were reported in the United States (2-5).Although the health impact of an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis originating from a contaminated public water source has been carefully documented (6), little effort has been made to estimate the economic impact of such an outbreak.This study estimates the cost of illness associated with perhaps the largest outbreak associated with a contaminated public water source ever reported in the United States.In 1993, an estimated 403,000 residents of the greater Milwaukee, Wisconsin, area (population, approximately 1.61 million) became ill when an ineffective filtration process led to the inadequate removal of Cryptosporidium oocysts in one of two municipal water treatment plants (6).We assessed direct medical costs and productivity losses from diarrheal illness during the Milwaukee outbreak to estimate the total cost of illness and the average cost per person with mild, moderate, and severe illness.This cost-of-illness analysis was based on epidemiologic data collected during and after the 1993 cryptosporidiosis outbreak in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Primary data on utilization and cost of inpatient admissions were obtained from a review of medical and financial records from hospitals in the greater Milwaukee area. Methods Epidemiologic Burden of Illness
Source: Emerging infectious diseases
Authors: Phaedra S. Corso, Michael H. Kramer, Kathleen A. Blair, David G. Addiss, Jeffrey P. Davis, Anne C. Haddix
Language: English
Subfield: Parasitology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2157477307