CGPH FACULTY: Eva Harris
DATE OF PUBLICATION: March 2015
REGION: Latin America
REFERENCE: Undurraga EA, Betancourt-Cravioto M, Ramos-Castañeda J, Martínez-Vega R, Méndez-Galván J, Gubler DJ, Guzmán MG, Halstead SB, Harris E, Kuri-Morales P, Tapia-Conyer R, Shepard DS. Economic and disease burden of dengue in Mexico. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2015 Mar 18;9(3):e0003547. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003547. eCollection 2015 Mar.
SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: Dengue imposes a substantial economic and disease burden in most tropical and subtropical countries. Dengue incidence and severity have dramatically increased in Mexico during the past decades. Having objective and comparable estimates of the economic burden of dengue is essential to inform health policy, increase disease awareness, and assess the impact of dengue prevention and control technologies. With this study, Mexico joins Panama, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, and Thailand as the only countries or areas worldwide with comprehensive (illness and preventive) empirical estimates of dengue burden. Burden varies annually; during an outbreak, dengue burden may be significantly higher than that of the pre-vaccine level of rotavirus diarrhea. In sum, Mexico’s potential economic benefits from dengue control would be substantial.
ACCESS: Link to Pubmed