The costs of human Campylobacter infections and sequelae in the Netherlands: A DALY and cost-of-illness approach

Abstract

Campylobacter infections and sequelae pose an important public health problem for the Netherlands. With the help of a second order stochastic simulation model (using @Risk), confidence intervals (CI) for the associated disease burden (summing up morbidity and mortality) and the associated costs-of-illness were estimated. Approximately 80,000 persons per year (90% CI 30,000–160,000) are estimated to experience symptoms of acute gastro-enteritis, of which 30 are fatal cases. Around 18,000 patients visit a doctor and 500 are hospitalized each year. Additionally, each year some 1,400 cases of reactive arthritis, 59 cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome and 10 cases of inflammatory bowel disease are associated with a previous Campylobacter infection. The disease burden is expressed in Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) and was estimated at 1,200 DALYs (90% CI 900–1,600 DALYs) per year. The associated costs for the Dutch society, using cost estimates for the year 2000, included direct health-care costs, direct non-health-care costs and productivity losses from missed work and were estimated to total €21 million (90% CI €11 million –€36 million) per year.