Other Tick Borne Disease Costs

CDC, Yale & MD, MN health departments concluded-

"We estimate the cost of laboratory diagnostic testing for non-Lyme disease tickborne diseases in 2008 to be $9.6 million."

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Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2015 Oct 30. pii: S1877-959X(15)30019-4. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2015.10.005. [Epub ahead of print]

Testing practices and volume of non-Lyme tickborne diseases in the United States.

Connally NP1, Hinckley AF2, Feldman KA3, Kemperman M4, Neitzel D4, Wee SB3, White JL5, Mead PS2, Meek JI6.

Author information

  • 1Connecticut Emerging Infections Program, Yale School of Public Health, One Church Street, 7th Floor, New Haven, CT, USA. Electronic address: connallyn@wcsu.edu.
  • 2Division of Vector-Borne Disease, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3156 Rampart Road, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
  • 3Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 201 W. Preston St., Baltimore, MD, USA.
  • 4Minnesota Department of Health 625 Robert St. North, St. Paul, MN, USA.
  • 5Emerging Infections Program, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY, USA.
  • 6Connecticut Emerging Infections Program, Yale School of Public Health, One Church Street, 7th Floor, New Haven, CT, USA.

Abstract

Large commercial laboratories in the United States were surveyed regarding the number of specimens tested for eight tickborne diseases in 2008. Seven large commercial laboratories reported testing a total of 2,927,881 specimens nationally (including Lymedisease).

Of these, 495,585 specimens (17%) were tested for tickborne diseases other than Lyme disease. In addition to large commercial laboratories, another 1051 smaller commercial, hospital, and government laboratories in four states (CT, MD, MN, and NY) were surveyed regarding tickborne disease testing frequency, practices, and results. Ninety-two of these reported testing a total of 10,091 specimens for four tickborne diseases other than Lyme disease.

We estimate the cost of laboratory diagnostic testing for non-Lyme disease tickborne diseases in 2008 to be $9.6 million. These data provide a baseline to evaluate trends in tickborne disease test utilization and insight into the burden of these diseases.

Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

KEYWORDS:

Anaplasmosis; Babesiosis; Diagnostic testing; Laboratory; Tickborne disease