TY - JOUR AU - Ouhoummane, Najwa AU - Tchouaket, Eric AU - Lowe, Anne-Marie AU - Fortin, Ann AU - Kairy, Dahlia AU - Vibien, Anne AU - Kovitz-Lensch, Jessica AU - Tannenbaum, Terry-Nan AU - Milord, François T1 - Economic Burden of West Nile Virus Disease, Quebec, Canada, 2012–2013 T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2019 VL - 25 IS - 10 SP - 1943 SN - 1080-6059 AB - 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. KW - West Nile virus disease KW - West Nile virus KW - WNV KW - viruses KW - economic burden KW - costs KW - Quebec KW - Canada KW - West Nile encephalitis KW - West Nile fever KW - West Nile meningitis KW - meningitis/encephalitis KW - zoonoses DO - 10.3201/eid2510.181608 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/25/10/18-1608_article ER - End of Reference