West Nile Virus Economic Impact, Louisiana, 2002

摘要

West Nile virus (WNV) is transmitted by mosquitoesand can cause illness in humans ranging from mild fever toencephalitis. In 2002, a total of 4,156 WNV cases werereported in the United States; 329 were in Louisiana. Toestimate the economic impact of the 2002 WNV epidemicin Louisiana, we collected data from hospitals, a patientquestionnaire, and public offices. Hospital charges wereconverted to economic costs by using Medicare cost-to-charge ratios. The estimated cost of the Louisiana epidem-ic was $20.1 million from June 2002 to February 2003,including a $10.9 million cost of illness ($4.4 million medicaland $6.5 million nonmedical costs) and a $9.2 million costof public health response. These data indicate a substantialshort-term cost of the WNV disease epidemic in Louisiana