Human African Trypanosomiasis in a Rural Community, Democratic Republic of Congo

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Emerg Infect Dis
• Personal Author:
  Lutumba, Pascal ; Makieya, Eric ; Shaw, Alexandra ; Meheus, Filip ; Boelaert, Marleen
• Description:
  According to the World Health Organization, human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) (sleeping sickness) caused the loss of approximately 1.5 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in 2002. We describe the effect of HAT during 2000-2002 in Buma, a rural community near Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We used retrospective questionnaire surveys to estimate HAT-related household costs and DALYs. The HAT outbreak in Buma involved 57 patients and affected 47 (21%) households. The cost to each household was equivalent to 5 months' income for that household. The total number of HAT-related DALYs was 2,145, and interventions to control HAT averted 1,408 DALYs. The cost per DALY averted was US $17. Because HAT has a serious economic effect on households and control interventions are cost-effective, considering only global burden of disease rankings for resource allocation could lead to misguided priority setting if applied without caution in HAT-affected countries.
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adult Aged Antiprotozoal Agents Child Child, Preschool Cost Of Illness Female Humans Infant Infant, Newborn Male Middle Aged Retrospective Studies Rural Population Trypanosomiasis, African

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• Source:
  Emerg Infect Dis. 13(2):248-254.
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Volume:
  13
• Issue:
  2
• Collection(s):
  Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:4f6762c96c4323d83a01ec60995144ff4526fc2e7397205b6be390eb55f7dd14
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/16214/cdc_16214_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 225.72 KB ]