Healthcare Insights
Top 20 infectious disease diagnoses
While many organisms live in and on our bodies, they’re often harmless or even helpful. However, under certain conditions, some organisms may cause disease. Some infectious diseases can be passed from person to person, according to the Mayo Clinic.
For this Healthcare Insight, we reviewed data from the Definitive Healthcare ClaimsMx product. The table below shows the most frequent patient visits for infectious and parasitic diseases in 2021.
| Rank | ICD-10 code | ICD-10 description | Percent of total infectious and parasitic disease visits | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A419 | Sepsis, unspecified organism | 18.6% | Explore |
| 2 | B349 | Viral infection, unspecified | 12.5% | Explore |
| 3 | B351 | Tinea unguium | 10.3% | Explore |
| 4 | B20 | Human immunodeficiency virus [HIV] disease | 4.2% | Explore |
| 5 | B078 | Other viral warts | 2.4% | Explore |
| 6 | A084 | Viral intestinal infection, unspecified | 2.3% | Explore |
| 7 | B029 | Zoster without complications | 2.2% | Explore |
| 8 | B373 | Candidiasis of vulva and vagina | 2.1% | Explore |
| 9 | B070 | Plantar wart | 2.0% | Explore |
| 10 | B079 | Viral wart, unspecified | 1.9% | Explore |
| 11 | A4189 | Other specified sepsis | 1.9% | Explore |
| 12 | B084 | Enteroviral vesicular stomatitis with exanthem | 1.5% | Explore |
| 13 | B182 | Chronic viral hepatitis C | 1.4% | Explore |
| 14 | B353 | Tinea pedis | 1.4% | Explore |
| 15 | A0472 | Enterocolitis due to Clostridium difficile, not specified as recurrent | 1.2% | Explore |
| 16 | B354 | Tinea corporis | 1.2% | Explore |
| 17 | B370 | Candidal stomatitis | 1.1% | Explore |
| 18 | B181 | Chronic viral hepatitis B without delta-agent | 1.1% | Explore |
| 19 | B081 | Molluscum contagiosum | 1.1% | Explore |
| 20 | B372 | Candidiasis of skin and nail | 1.0% | Explore |
Fig. 1 Data is from the Definitive Healthcare ClaimsMx product for calendar year 2021. Claims data is sourced from multiple medical claims clearinghouses in the United States and is updated monthly. Data accessed October 2022.
What is an infectious disease?
Simply put, infectious diseases are disorders caused by pathogenic organisms like bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites.
How are infectious diseases contracted?
According to Mayo Clinic, there are several ways to contract an infectious disease:
- Direct contact: An easy way to catch most infectious diseases is by coming into contact with a person or an animal with the infection.
- Indirect contact: Many germs can linger on an inanimate object, such as a tabletop, doorknob or faucet handle. When you touch a doorknob handled by someone ill with the flu or a cold, for example, you can pick up the germs left behind.
- Insect bites: Some germs rely on insect carriers — such as mosquitoes, fleas, lice or ticks — to move from host to host.
- Food contamination: Disease-causing germs can also infect you through contaminated food and water. This mechanism of transmission allows germs to be spread to many people through a single source.
What are the most common infectious and parasitic diseases?
Sepsis, ICD-10 code A419, accounted for the most patient visits for infectious and parasitic diseases at 18.6% of visits.
Sepsis is also one of the most common healthcare associated infections (HAIs). Incidence of HAIs are tracked by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and hospitals are required to report infections data to the CDC to receive Medicare reimbursements.
Other specific infectious and parasitic diseases that appear on the list include:
- Tinea unguium (toenail fungus)
- Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
- Viral warts
- Viral intestinal infection
- Zoster without complications (shingles)
- Candidiasis of vulva and vagina (yeast infection)
- Plantar wart
Learn more
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