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      The costs of respiratory illnesses arising from Florida gulf coast Karenia brevis blooms

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      Date
      2009-08-01
      Author
      Hoagland, P
      Jin, D
      Polansky, LY
      Kirkpatrick, B
      Kirkpatrick, G
      Fleming, LE
      Reich, A
      Watkins, SM
      Ullmann, SG
      Backer, LC
      Date issued
      2009-08-01
      Journal
      Environmental Health Perspectives
      Type
      Article
      Language
      en
      Publisher
      tional Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
      Links
      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19672403
      Rights
      Open access
      Abstract
      BACKGROUND: Algal blooms of Karenia brevis, a harmful marine algae, occur almost annually off the west coast of Florida. At high concentrations, K. brevis blooms can cause harm through the release of potent toxins, known as brevetoxins, to the atmosphere. Epidemiologic studies suggest that aerosolized brevetoxins are linked to respiratory illnesses in humans. OBJECTIVES: We hypothesized a relationship between K. brevis blooms and respiratory illness visits to hospital emergency departments (EDs) while controlling for environmental factors, disease, and tourism. We sought to use this relationship to estimate the costs of illness associated with aerosolized brevetoxins. METHODS: We developed a statistical exposure-response model to express hypotheses about the relationship between respiratory illnesses and bloom events. We estimated the model with data on ED visits, K. brevis cell densities, and measures of pollen, pollutants, respiratory disease, and intra-annual population changes. RESULTS: We found that lagged K. brevis cell counts, low air temperatures, influenza outbreaks, high pollen counts, and tourist visits helped explain the number of respiratory-specific ED diagnoses. The capitalized estimated marginal costs of illness for ED respiratory illnesses associated with K. brevis blooms in Sarasota County, Florida, alone ranged from $0.5 to $4 million, depending on bloom severity. CONCLUSIONS: Blooms of K. brevis lead to significant economic impacts. The costs of illness of ED visits are a conservative estimate of the total economic impacts. It will become increasingly necessary to understand the scale of the economic losses associated with K. brevis blooms to make rational choices about appropriate mitigation.
      Funders/Sponsor
      This research was sponsored by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (07182) and the Departments of Environmental Protection and Health; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the Center for Oceans and Human Health at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [National Science Foundation (NSF) OCE-0430724; National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) P50 ES012742]; the Ocean and Human Health Center at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School (NSF 0CE0432368; NIEHS 1 P50 ES12736); and the NIEHS (PO1 ES 10594).
      Description
      This is the final version of the article. Available from NIEHS via the DOI in this record
      Citation
      Vol. 117, pp. 1239 - 1243
      DOI
      https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.0900645
      URI
      http://hdl.handle.net/10871/30766
      Collections
      • Institute of Health Research
      Place of publication
      United States

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