Volume 16, Number 3—March 2010
Research
Economic Cost Analysis of West Nile Virus Outbreak, Sacramento County, California, USA, 2005
Loren M. Barber, Jerome J. Schleier, and Robert K.D. Peterson
Table 4
Estimated economic impact for WNF cases (N = 117), Sacramento County, California, 2005*
| Item | Cost | No. patients by age, y |
Total cost | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <60 | >60 | ||||
| Physician visit for diagnosis or treatment in the western US, cost per case† | $167 | 86 | 31 | $19,539 | |
| Diagnostic tests, average cost per case‡ |
$135 |
||||
| Productivity loss | Per work day missed§ | Per nonwork day missed¶ | Total individual cost# | ||
| Value of a lost day |
$191 |
$125 |
$955 |
$625 |
$101,505 |
| Total costs for WNF | $136,839 | ||||
*WNF, West Nile fever; BLS, Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor.
†Estimated by using data from Brown and Beauregard (19) and BLS (15).
‡ELISA immunoglobulin (Ig) G and IgM serum and cerebrospinal fluid. Estimated by using laboratory list prices (ARUP Laboratories, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Focus Diagnostics Inc., Cypress, CA, USA; Quest Diagnostics Inc., Madison, NJ, USA; Specialty Laboratories, Valencia, CA, USA).
§Estimated by using data from BLS (17).
¶Estimated by using data from Grosse (18) and BLS (17).
#Based on 5 workdays missed per person <60 y and 5 nonwork days missed per person >60 y.
