Dengue fever is a major public health concern in many parts of South-East Asia and South America and its prevalence in Africa is thought to be expanding. Researchers have now conducted an analysis of the economic burden of dengue fever in Burkina Faso, Kenya and Cambodia. Their results appear in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

In the new work, as part of the Dengue Vaccine Initiative (DVI) Jung-Seok Lee, and colleagues developed a patient-specific survey questionnaire on the cost of dengue and administered it to patients in six countries in a standardised manner.

The average cost of inpatient care was $26 in Burkina Faso and $134 in Cambodia, while the average cost of outpatient care was $13 per episode in Burkina Faso and $23 in Kenya. In both African countries, the costs were not insignificant compared to the economic cost of malaria, a major pathogen in the areas.

"The economic burden outcomes presented in the current study can be used to estimate more accurate vaccination benefits when conducting cost-effectiveness analysis of dengue fever vaccine interventions in the three countries in the future," the researchers say.