Aggregate economic burden of infection-associated chronic conditions
Total economic impact through 2022
Source: Harvard/Cutler 2022
Annual direct + indirect costs
Source: Johns Hopkins 2015
Earnings lost in 2023 alone
Source: Brookings 2023
Comparable to Alzheimer's ($340B/yr)
Source: Tandfonline 2022
Direct Medical
Doctor visits, diagnostic tests, medications, hospitalizations, specialist referrals
Lost Productivity
Missed workdays, disability payments, reduced hours, early retirement, career disruption
Informal Caregiving
Unpaid family care, quality of life loss, out-of-pocket costs, transportation, home modifications
Every condition in this portfolio is underfunded by at least 700:1 relative to economic burden.
ME/CFS tops the chart at 16,667:1 — receiving $15M/year from NIH against $149B-$362B in annual burden. For comparison, Alzheimer's (a well-funded disease with comparable burden) has a ratio of just 100:1. Even the "best-funded" condition here — Alpha-gal Syndrome — is underfunded 7x worse than Alzheimer's.
Sources: NIH Reporter (2024), Tandfonline (2022), Brookings (2023), Johns Hopkins (2015), CDC (2023)
$5 per patient
ME/CFS receives less NIH funding per patient than any other disease in the US
With 3.3 million Americans affected and only $15M in annual NIH funding, ME/CFS patients receive roughly $5 each per year in dedicated research funding. Cancer receives $226 per patient. HIV receives $2,536.
5+ doctors
The average Lyme patient sees 5 or more doctors before receiving a correct diagnosis
Two-tier serologic testing has less than 50% sensitivity in early-stage disease. The average diagnostic odyssey spans 4.4 years and $75,000 in out-of-pocket costs, with many patients initially misdiagnosed with depression, anxiety, or fibromyalgia.
$3.7 Trillion
Long COVID has cost the US economy $3.7 trillion — more than the entire GDP of the United Kingdom
This cumulative burden through 2022 includes $900B in lost quality of life, $500B+ in lost earnings from 2-4 million displaced workers, and hundreds of billions in direct healthcare costs. The annual burden continues at $200B+.
FAIR Health data 2007-2021. Rural communities face the steepest increases in Lyme-related insurance claims.
Americans kept out of the workforce by Long COVID, equivalent to the entire population of Houston.
Estimated annual cost of Long COVID-related absenteeism across the U.S. economy.
The most extreme funding disparity of any U.S. disease. $15M NIH funding against up to $362B annual burden.
Only ~110,000 of an estimated 450,000 Alpha-gal Syndrome cases have been identified.
Total cumulative economic impact of Long COVID through 2022, including healthcare, lost income, and reduced quality of life.