Prevalence of various symptoms and cost of treatment during the chikungunya epidemic in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, in 2006.

Ahmedabad city in the State of Gujarat was one of the cities most affected by an epidemic of chikungunya. This paper attempts to document the epidemiological profile of chikungunya cases in the city of Ahmedabad in 2006. It also tries to study the economic burden of the disease on patients and understand their treatment-seeking behaviour. There was an average of 2.4 suspected chikungunya patients in a family of five members. Mean duration of illness was 19 days. Thirteen per cent of those suffering from chikungunya were admitted to hospital. The economic burden of chikungunya disease on a patient was US$ 28.5, out of which approximately US$ 15.4 was out-of-pocket expenditure on medical treatment, US$ 4.0 was on transportation. The average wage loss per patient (workers and non-workers) was US$ 10.4; with the average wage loss per worker being US$ 22.5. The cost of inpatient care was 1.5 times higher than the cost of outpatient care. An outbreak of an emerging disease creates unanticipated catastrophic health-care expenditure. Based on the study, the economic burden of chikungunya in Ahmedabad in 2006 (for 60 777 cases) was approximately US$ 1.7 million. The priorities when tackling such unexpected disease outbreaks should include strengthening of preventive and curative measures and continued research on the socioeconomic impact to help in policy-making and resource allocation.