Estimating the cost of illness and burden of disease associated with the 20142015 chikungunya outbreak in the U.S. Virgin Islands

摘要

Author summary Chikungunya, a virus carried and transmitted by mosquitoes, causes fever, headache, and severe joint pain in humans that often resolves within 710 days. However, a proportion of cases, up to 79% in some outbreaks, report persistent joint pain and chronic inflammatory rheumatism, resulting in decreased quality of life for months to years following initial infection. In 2014, chikungunya virus swept through the Americas, resulting in almost 2 million suspected or confirmed cases reported by April 2016. Previous studies have noted the large resource burden from chikungunya outbreaks, including high healthcare costs, lost wages due to absenteeism, and decreased quality of life for months following infection. Our work aimed to estimate the direct medical costs, cost of lost productivity due to absenteeism, and years lived with disability associated with the chikungunya outbreak in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This information may aid policy-makers in making informed decisions about prevention and control measures for inevitable, future chikungunya outbreaks.