Rift valley fever cost-effectiveness of therapy

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Aakash Hans, MD[2]

Although there are no first line drugs recommended for the treatment of Rift valley fever, the economic impact of the disease requires some measures to be taken to curb its spread. Vaccinating the livestock may play a significant role in decreasing human exposure and limiting the spread of infection to other healthy animals.

• Vaccinating the livestock animals like goats and sheep a couple of years prior to the outbreak of RVF cases may be tremendously cost-effective to the health organizations catering to the public.
• These benefits could be measured in terms of DALYs (disability adjusted life years) and the amount of money it costs to treat human cases.^[1]
• Improved numbers of vaccinated livestock will further improve overall cost-effectiveness.
• Increasing surveillance for suspicious symptoms in animals will also help health organizations to react in time and decrease human contact with these infected animals to a minimum.
• Another strategy of implementing vaccination for all livestock at baseline for periods when there is no outbreak of RVF, followed by another shot of vaccination when cases begin to rise may be used by governments to effectively curb the spread of the disease.

Template:WH Template:WS