Foodborne Illness Cost Calculator: STEC O157

ERS estimates that the annual economic cost of illness caused by shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC O157) is $488,771,183 (2010 dollars). This estimate is for all cases of STEC O157 disease, not just foodborne cases. It includes acute illness costs arising from hemorraghic colitis (HC) and Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), two complications that can arise from STEC O157 disease, as well as chronic illness costs arising from HUS with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), a chronic condition that results in reduced life expectancy. The estimate includes medical costs due to illness, kidney dialysis and transplant costs, and the cost (value) of time lost from work due to nonfatal illness, and the cost (value) of premature death. The ERS estimate excludes a number of other potential costs, such as those for special education, nursing homes, travel, childcare and the costs of pain and suffering. Review ERS per case assumptions and calculation descriptions. See Consumer Price Index components and ERS assumptions for information on dollar value conversions.

NOTE: The default number of STEC O157 cases entered in the cost calculator was obtained from an earlier estimate by CDC (see Food-Related Illness and Death in the United States). This estimate is now outdated because CDC has recently released a new estimate of annual STEC O157 cases (see Foodborne Illness Acquired in the United States—Major Pathogens). ERS plans to update the calculator to include the new CDC case estimate; in the meantime, calculator users can refer to the new CDC estimate and change the number of STEC O157 cases themselves. However, users should be aware of 2 caveats in using the new CDC estimate: 1) CDC reported only the total number of STEC O157 cases (96,534), hospitalizations (3,268), and deaths (31), so users must decide whether the distribution of cases by severity has changed over time, and 2) the new CDC estimate is statistically uncertain, although CDC measured the uncertainty and reported 90 percent credibility intervals for the total number of STEC O157 cases (26,982-227,891), hospitalizations (844-7,052), and deaths (0-173).

Complete documentation of the Calculator assumptions and detailed citations are also available.

ERS cost estimate: STEC O157, from all sources, 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 dollars Tree diagram    Pie chart    Cost component Not hospitalized Hospitalized Total Didn't visit physician; survived Change per case costs for Severity 1 Visited physician; survived Change per case costs for Severity 2 Didn't have HUS; survived Change per case costs for Severity 3 Had HUS1 but not ESRD2; survived Change per case costs for Severity 4 Had HUS and ESRD; survived Change per case costs for Severity 5 Didn't have HUS; died Change per case costs for Severity 6 Had HUS; died Change per case costs for Severity 7 Number of cases (Change number of cases) 57,656 13,656 1,797 300 10 23 38 73,480 All illness dollars   Medical: 161,160 5,213,212 13,967,559 14,152,664 8,619,569 178,560 1,792,525 44,085,249     Medications 161,160 257,179 98,857 9,613 449 1,053 1,072 529,384     Office visits 0 2,205,004 233,040 73,614 2,454 2,983 9,324 2,526,419     Emergency room 0 2,751,029 796,420 191,883 6,396 10,193 24,305 3,780,227     Hospitalization 0 0 12,839,242 13,877,553 462,585 164,331 1,757,823 29,101,534     Chronic medical 0 0 0 0 8,147,686 0 0 8,147,686   Productivity, nonfatal 1,568,676 2,701,088 1,035,331 20,955 551,736 20,681 13,147 5,911,612   Disutility, nonfatal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Premature death 0 0 0 0 53,039,100 108,882,263 276,852,958 438,774,321 ERS total cost, 2010 1,729,836 7,914,300 15,002,890 14,173,618 62,210,405 109,081,504 278,658,630 488,771,183 ERS average cost per case, 2010 30 580 8,349 47,245 6,221,040 4,742,674 7,333,122 6,652 1Hemolytic uremic syndrome. 2End-stage renal disease.