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Appendix 3: Estimate of Water-borne Disease Burden in New Zealand

Source: Outcome Management Services Ltd, 2004

The following table represents best estimates of the annual background burden of disease due to drinking-water. It is based on the number of cases reported annually to the notifiable disease system operated by ESR for the Ministry of Health.

The process used to develop the table was as follows.

  1. Each pathogen known to be carried by drinking-water was separately analysed.
  2. The number of cases reported each year was extracted from the notifiable disease system.
  3. Under-reporting was estimated using expert advice and published literature, and the total incidence of disease nationwide was calculated.
  4. Drinking-water as a known cause was estimated using expert advice and information from outbreaks where causal agents have been more reliably established from scientific analysis.
  5. Costs per case were taken from the published literature. Protozoa and E. coli O157 costs were estimated using estimates for time off work, hospitalisations, long-term morbidity and mortality data from US data (US EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
  6. Quality assurance of the process was performed by public health physicians and economists working in this area.

Table A2: Estimates of the annual background burden of water-borne disease in New Zealand

View estimates of the annual background burden of water-borne disease in New Zealand (large table)

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