Norovirus Gastroenteritis Costs an Estimated $10.6 Billion Each Year in the United States

Over 90% of norovirus' total annual cost is due to sporadic spread in the community.

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., July 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vaxart, Inc., (NASDAQ: VXRT), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing oral recombinant vaccines that are administered by tablet rather than by injection, and has a Phase 2 ready norovirus vaccine program, today announced that a new study was published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases today, which concluded that norovirus gastroenteritis costs the United States an estimated median of $10.6 billion each year. In particular, norovirus outbreaks that are widely publicized are only the tip of the iceberg and constitute less than 10% of all the costs. The vast majority of the costs come from sporadic cases in the community.

These results came from a computational model that simulated the course of a norovirus infection and quantified its clinical and economic burden in the United States. Each person with a norovirus infection had probabilities of seeking medical care (e.g., outpatient or ambulatory care visits), hospitalization, and death. Costs included care required (e.g., hospitalization) and missed days of school and work.

“Although norovirus tends to get highlighted by the news media during outbreaks, it’s the cases of norovirus in the community that are contributing to the bulk of the costs,” commented Bruce Y. Lee, MD, MBA, senior author of the study, Professor of Health Policy and Management at the City University of New York (CUNY), and executive director of the Public Health Informatics, Computational, and Operations Research (PHICOR). “As our study shows, the costs of these individual cases can add up substantially. This gives a sense of how much an effective vaccine could save employers and the economy.”

A previous study estimated that norovirus cost society $60.3 billion worldwide each year and subdivided this estimate by the respective World Health Organization region, with the Americas having the highest cost at $23.5 billion.

Even though norovirus infections occur year-round, the results from the new study show that over 50% of the total costs are incurred during winter. This suggests that any policies or interventions to prevent norovirus should be implemented before or escalated during the winter months.

In addition, productivity losses accounted for 89% of total costs, offering a sense of how much norovirus may be costing employers. Dr. Lee added, “Since our study demonstrated that the majority of norovirus-related costs may be productivity losses, claims data and other measures of medical costs may substantially underestimate the total cost of norovirus.”