Stephen Mac

Project Details

Economic Evaluation of Intervention Strategies for Lyme disease in Ontario

Lyme disease (LD) is an increasingly common vector-borne disease reported in temperate climate zones in North America. LD is caused by the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria transmitted from the black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis. In Ontario, incidence rates have increased 10-fold since 2006, with areas reporting some of the highest rates in Canada (>18/100,000). Some estimates predict over 10,000 cases of LD across Canada by year 2020. The economic impact of LD on healthcare costs and the cost-effectiveness of its interventions are not well studied in Canada. Bill C-442, which has since assented to the Federal Framework on Lyme Disease Act, mandates the Canadian government to investigate the challenges of recognition, timely diagnosis and accurate treatment of LD. The objective of my research is to provide evidence on the value of LD treatment and prevention strategies by assessing their cost-effectiveness from a healthcare payer perspective.

Project Supervisor(s)

Dr. Beate Sander, Public Health Ontario

Education Profile

PhD(c), Health Services Research, Health Technology Assessment (University of Toronto, ongoing); Master of Biotechnology (University of Toronto, 2015); Hon. Bachelors of Science (University of Toronto, 2013)