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Volume 9, Number 4—April 2003
Research

Costs of Illness in the 1993 Waterborne Cryptosporidium Outbreak, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Phaedra S. Corso*Comments to Author , Michael H. Kramer*, Kathleen A. Blair†, David G. Addiss*, Jeffrey P. Davis‡, and Anne C. Haddix§
Author affiliations: *Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; †City of Milwaukee Health Department, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; ‡Wisconsin Division of Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, USA; §Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Main Article

Table 1

Parameter estimates for calculating the cost of diarrheal illness during the cryptosporidiosis outbreak, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1993

Parameter Mild illnessa Moderate illness Severe illness
% of infected persons with diarrhea
 87.99 (6)
 10.92 (6)
 1.09 (6)
Medical costs
Inpatient healthcare costs
% with hospitalization
100
Cost of hospitalization
 –
 –
 $6,312b
Outpatient healthcare costs
% with physician visit
95c
 29b
Cost of physician visit
 –
 $45d
 $45d
% with emergency department visit
5b
Cost of emergency department visit
 –
 $224b
Ambulance transport
% of emergency department visit/hospitalization with ambulance transport
 –
 4.9b
 16.3b
Cost of ambulance transport
 –
 $228 (11)c
 $228 (11)c
Medication
Self-medication before seeking healthcare
Duration of illness before seeking health care, mean days
 4.7e
 5.8b
 18.4b
% taking medication
 30c
 30b
 29b
Cost of medication
 $5.73 (12)c
 $5.92 (12)c
 $6.74 (12)b
Medication prescribed after seeking healthcare
% taking medication
 —
 54b
 48b
Cost of medication
$8.91 (12)b
 $70.52 (12)b
Recurrent episodes
% with recurrent episodes (and assuming 100% take medication)
 21 (7)
 21 (7)
 21 (7)
Duration of recurrent episodes, mean d
 2 (8)
 2 (8)
 2 (8)
Cost of medication
 $2.44 (12)c
 $2.44 (12)c
 $2.44 (12)c
Productivity losses
Productivity losses for ill persons, mean d
 1.3e
 3.8e
 13.5e
Productivity losses for caregivers, mean d
 0.1e
 1.3e
 3.9c
Earnings lost/d $81 (13) $81 (13) $81 (13)

aReference nos. are in parentheses.
bMedical chart review.
cAuthor assumption.
dCity of Milwaukee Health Department.
eRandom digit dial survey conducted by the City of Milwaukee Health Department.

Main Article

Page created: December 08, 2010
Page updated: December 08, 2010
Page reviewed: December 08, 2010
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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