The Rise of Valley Fever: Prevalence and Cost Burden of Coccidioidomycosis Infection in California

Leslie Wilson, Jie Ting, Harold Lin, Rahil Shah, Michael MacLean, Michael W. Peterson, Nathan Stockamp, Robert Libke and Paul Brown
Additional contact information
Leslie Wilson: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA
Jie Ting: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA
Harold Lin: Kaiser Permanente Fresno, Fresno, CA 93720, USA
Rahil Shah: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA
Michael MacLean: Kings County Department of Public Health, Hanford, CA 93230, USA
Michael W. Peterson: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Fresno, CA 93701, USA
Nathan Stockamp: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Fresno, CA 93701, USA
Robert Libke: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Fresno, CA 93701, USA
Paul Brown: Department of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, University of California, Merced, CA 95343, USA

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: Coccidioidomycosis (CM) is a fungal infection endemic in the southwestern United States (US). In California, CM incidence increased more than 213% (from 6.0/100,000 (2014) to 18.8/100,000 (2017)) and continues to increase as rates in the first half of 2018 are double that of 2017 during the same period. This cost-of-illness study provides essential information to be used in health planning and funding as CM infections continue to surge. We used a “bottom-up” approach to determine lifetime costs of 2017 reported incident CM cases in California. We defined CM natural history and used a societal approach to determine direct and discounted indirect costs using literature, national datasets, and expert interviews. The total lifetime cost burden of CM cases reported in 2017 in California is just under $700 million US dollars, with $429 million in direct costs and $271 million in indirect costs. Per person direct costs were highest for disseminated disease ($1,023,730), while per person direct costs were lowest for uncomplicated CM pneumonia ($22,039). Cost burden varied by county. This is the first study to estimate total costs of CM, demonstrating its huge cost burden for California.

Keywords: coccidioidomycosis; California; cost-of-illness; economic analysis; Valley fever; infection; cost; prevalence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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