ebola - HICLOVER Incinerator

Um problema inesperado de infraestrutura de ebola: resíduos

Posted on August 30, 2021 by admin

Os pacientes com esse vírus debilitante produzem 440 galões de lixo hospitalar diariamente, incluindo instrumentos, jalecos, luvas, fluidos corporais, lençóis, colchões e muito mais. É uma quantidade substancial de lixo hospitalar em qualquer situação, mas é especialmente desanimador neste caso porque precisa ser descartado com extrema cautela, para evitar o risco de propagação da infecção. O que você faz com um problema como o lixo Ebola? Porque você não quer jogá-lo no lixo.

Surpreendentemente, diz Bausch, os Estados Unidos realmente enfrentam problemas maiores quando se trata de descartar com segurança os resíduos de Ebola, que são simplesmente queimados em grandes fossas na África: “Nos Estados Unidos, é claro, estamos um tanto comprometidos com soluções de alta tecnologia , que de certa forma são um pouco mais problemáticos em termos de tratamento de todos esses resíduos, e precisamos de autoclaves ou incineradores que possam lidar com esse tipo de coisa. Não é a inativação real que é particularmente difícil; é apenas o processo de levar os resíduos da linha de frente do atendimento e da interação com os pacientes com segurança para o local onde podem ser incinerados ou autoclavados ”.

O problema nos Estados Unidos é ironicamente agravado pelo maior acesso aos cuidados médicos e pela maior qualidade dos serviços médicos disponíveis. Nos Estados Unidos, os pacientes são tratados por equipes médicas com acesso a um grande volume de suprimentos que usam para proteção, incluindo máscaras, jalecos, botas e luvas, além de desinfetantes e outras ferramentas. Além disso, os pacientes recebem extensas intervenções médicas que geram resíduos como agulhas, tubos, esparadrapo, bolsas vazias de soro e muito mais. O próprio cuidado que ajudou a maioria dos poucos pacientes de Ebola nos Estados Unidos a vencer a doença contribuiu para a enorme quantidade de resíduos gerados, destacando um buraco crítico na infraestrutura médica dos EUA – enquanto os hospitais africanos podem não ter os suprimentos e pessoal necessários para fornecer ajuda aos pacientes com ebola, eles estão pelo menos preparados para lidar com o lixo.

O CDC acaba de emitir diretrizes para ajudar os médicos e administradores a decidir sobre como lidar com os resíduos do Ebola, mas o The New York Times observa que muitas instalações não têm autoclave e incinerador, capacidade para lidar com resíduos médicos nesta escala. Alguns estados proíbem totalmente a queima de lixo hospitalar, ou barraram a incineração de lixo de Ebola, levando ao transporte de lixo através das fronteiras estaduais para instalações que podem tratá-lo, o que representa seus próprios riscos; com cada quilômetro adicionado ao transporte, há um risco maior de espalhar doenças para comunidades não expostas anteriormente.

Surpreendentemente, os defensores da queima do lixo vêm de cantos surpreendentes. Ambientalistas como Allen Hershkowitz, cientista sênior do National Resources Defense Council, apontam que: “Não há poluente que saia de um incinerador de lixo que seja mais perigoso do que o vírus Ebola. Quando você está lidando com riscos patogênicos e biológicos, às vezes a coisa mais segura a fazer é a combustão. ”

O argumento em defesa da incineração pode ser reforçado pelo fato de que as empresas de resíduos hospitalares se especializam em incineração de alta eficiência com equipamentos projetados para minimizar e reter os subprodutos da combustão, reduzindo consideravelmente a poluição geral. Os temores sobre o ebola, em vez de preocupações ambientais ou de saúde pública genuínas, estão conduzindo a decisão de pressionar contra a incineração de resíduos de ebola em muitas regiões, mas, eventualmente, os Estados Unidos terão que enfrentar os fatos: os resíduos crescentes que se acumulam nas instalações onde Pacientes com ebola recebem tratamentos que devem ser descartados com segurança e prontamente.

por: http://www.care2.com/causes/an-unexpected-ebola-infrastructure-problem-waste.html

An Unusual Ebola Infrastructure Problem: Waste

Posted on August 14, 2021 by admin

Patients for this debilitating virus create 440 gallons of medical waste daily, such as instruments, gowns, gloves, body fluids, linens, sheets and more. That is a considerable amount of medical waste in any circumstance, but it is particularly daunting in this situation because it ought to be disposed extremely carefully, to avoid the chance of spreading disease. What should you do with a problem such as Ebola waste? Because you don’t need to toss it in the garbage.

Somewhat astonishingly, says Bausch, the United States actually faces bigger problems in regards to safely disposing of Ebola waste, which is simply burned in large pits in Africa:”In the United States, naturally, we’re somewhat beholden to greater tech solutions, which in some ways are a tiny bit more problematic concerning treating all that waste, and we need autoclaves or incinerators that could handle that sort of thing. It’s not the actual inactivation that is particularly difficult; it is only the process of finding the waste from, of course, the frontline of care and interaction with the patients safely to the place where it could be incinerated or autoclaved.”

The difficulty in the United States is ironically compounded by the increased accessibility to medical care, and the high quality of healthcare services, available. In the United States, patients have been treated with medical teams with access to a massive volume of supplies they use for protection, such as masks, gowns, booties, and gloves, together with sanitizers and other tools. Moreover, patients receive extensive medical interventions which create waste such as needles, tubing, medical tape, empty IV bags, and more. The very care which has helped the majority of the handful of Ebola patients in the United States conquer the disorder has contributed to the huge amount of waste created, highlighting a critical hole in U.S. medical infrastructure — while African American hospitals may have lacked the supplies and personnel required to provide aid to Ebola patients, they are at least prepared to handle the waste.

The CDC only issued guidelines to assist clinicians and administrators decide upon how to handle Ebola waste, but The New York Times notes that many facilities do not have the autoclave, and incinerator, ability to take care of medical waste with this scale. Some countries prohibit the burning of medical waste altogether, or have barred incineration of Ebola waste, resulting in the transport of waste across state boundaries to facilities which could handle it, which introduces its own risks; with each mile added to transportation, there is a greater risk of spreading disease to previously unexposed communities.

Astonishingly, defenders of burning the garbage come from surprising corners. Environmentals such as Allen Hershkowitz, National Resources Defense Council senior scientist, point out :”There is no pollutant that is going to come out of a waste incinerator that is more dangerous than the Ebola virus. When you are dealing with pathogenic and biological hazards, occasionally the safest thing to do is combustion.” Fears about Ebola, rather than genuine ecological or public health issues, are forcing the decision to push against incineration of ebola waste in several regions, but eventually, the United States is going to need to face facts: The mounting waste which accumulates in facilities where Ebola patients receive treatments needs to be disposed of safely, as well as instantly.

The argument in defense of incineration can be bolstered by the fact that medical waste companies specialize in high-efficiency incineration with equipment designed to minimize and trap byproducts of combustion, reducing overall pollution considerably. Fears about Ebola, rather than genuine environmental or public health concerns, are driving the decision to push against incineration of ebola waste in many regions, but eventually, the United States is going to have to face facts: The mounting waste that accumulates in facilities where Ebola patients receive treatments needs to be disposed of safely, and promptly.

by: http://www.care2.com/causes/an-unexpected-ebola-infrastructure-problem-waste.html

Another challenge: disposing of waste

Posted on August 7, 2021 by admin

Just one Ebola patient treated in a U.S. hospital will generate eight 55-gallon barrels of medical waste each day.

Protective gloves, gowns, masks and booties are donned and doffed by all who approach the patient’s bedside and then discarded. Disposable medical tools, packaging, bed sheets, cups, plates, tissues, towels, pillowcases and anything which is utilized to clean up after the individual has to be thrown away.

Dealing with this assortment of pathogen-filled debris without triggering new illnesses is a legal and logistical challenge for each U.S. hospital currently preparing for a possible visit by the virus.

In California and other states, it is a much worse waste-management nightmare.

While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends autoclaving (a kind of sterilizing) or incinerating the waste as a surefire means of destroying the germs, burning waste is effectively banned in California, also banned in many different states.

“Storage, transport and disposal of the waste is going to be a significant issue,” California Hospital Association President C. Duane Dauner warned Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., in a letter last week.

Even a few states that normally permit incineration are throwing up barriers to Ebola waste.

In Missouri, the state attorney general has sought to pub Ebola-contaminated debris by a St. Louis incinerator operated by Stericycle Inc., the country’s biggest medical waste disposal firm.

as a result of restrictions on burning, California hospital representatives say their only alternative appears to be trucking the waste over public highways and incinerating it in a different state — a prospect which makes some environmental advocates embarrassing.

Prerequisites for transport

Under national transport guidelines, the material would be designated a Class A infectious substance, or one that’s capable of causing death or permanent disability, and might require special approval from the Department of Transportation, hospital representatives say. “Not to create any type of scare, but only given the makeup of the people and the hub we are. It is very possible” It can’t endure a 1,500-degree scorching within an incinerator, or even the prolonged, pressurized steam of an autoclave. “It is killed by bleach, by autoclaving, by an assortment of chemicals.”

But, CDC guidelines note that”chemical inactivation” has yet to be standardized and could trigger worker safety regulations.

Getting prepared

California health officials lately tried to reassure residents that the nation’s private and public hospitals were around the job and were actively training for the possible coming of Ebola.

“Ebola doesn’t pose a significant public health risk to California communities in the present time,” said Dr. Gil Chavez, an epidemiologist and deputy director in the California Department of Public Health. “Allow me to tell you why: Present scientific proof specifies that people can’t access Ebola through the atmosphere, food or water. … The Ebola virus doesn’t survive over a couple of hours on impervious surfaces.”

It was uncertain whether California officials viewed the waste issue as a possible issue.

Although one third of the nation’s private hospitals and”several” of its public hospitals reported to Boxer’s office there would be problems complying with the CDC’s incineration recommendation, and others, a state public health officer told reporters he was not aware of any conflicts.

Dr. David Perrott, chief medical officer for the California Hospital Association, said there was also confusion about whether contaminated human waste could be flushed down the toilet.

“Here is what we’ve heard from the CDC: It is OK,” Perrott said. “But we’ve heard from some sources, that maybe we must sterilize it somehow and then flush it down the toilet or you have to consult local governments. It sounds maybe a bit gross, but there is a real question about what to do with this waste.”

Dr. Thomas Ksiazek, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, has said he believes there’s been a lot of overreaction about Ebola medical waste.

“There are different methods to deal with the waste; autoclaving would be chief among them,” Ksiazek mentioned. “The issue is, most physicians don’t use it for many disposable products. They’re quite pleased to bag them up and send them to a normal medical disposal firm.”

But Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said incineration is simple and powerful, and should be available to hospitals to help eliminate the mountain of waste.

Hershkowitz said states began to crack down on medical waste incineration years back because substances which didn’t have to get burned were being sent to combustors and were emitting dangerous pollutants.

within this instance of Ebola medical waste, he said California should reconsider its limitations.

“There’s no pollutant that is going to come from a waste incinerator that is more dangerous than the Ebola virus,” Hershkowitz said. “When you’re dealing with pathogenic and biological hazards, sometimes the safest thing to do is combustion.”

by: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Another-challenge-disposing-of-waste-5909413.php

“There are other ways to deal with the waste; autoclaving would be chief among them,” Ksiazek said. “The problem is, most hospitals don’t use it for most disposable items. They’re quite happy to bag them up and send them to a regular medical disposal company.”

But Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said incineration is simple and effective, and should be available to hospitals to help dispose of the mountain of waste.

Hershkowitz said states began to crack down on medical waste incineration years ago because materials that didn’t need to be burned were being sent to combustors and were emitting dangerous pollutants.

In this case of Ebola medical waste, he said California should reconsider its restrictions.

“There’s no pollutant that’s going to come out of a waste incinerator that’s more dangerous than the Ebola virus,” Hershkowitz said. “When you’re dealing with pathogenic and biological hazards, sometimes the safest thing to do is combustion.”

by: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Another-challenge-disposing-of-waste-5909413.php

Texas Ebola waste Won’t Be disposed in Louisiana

Posted on July 8, 2021 by admin

On Friday Attorney General Buddy Caldwell declared the State of Louisiana reached an arrangement with Texas incinerator Veolia Environmental Services and Louisiana toxic waste landfill Chemical Waste Management to ensure that incinerator ash associated with the recent Dallas Ebola virus occurrence won’t be transported or disposed of in Louisiana,.

On Oct. 13 the Louisiana Attorney General’s office got a restraining order in the 19th Judicial District Court to temporarily stop the transfer of incinerated Ebola ash into Louisiana. The temporary retraining order was extended on Oct. 21 at the request of all parties, until finally arriving at today’s arrangement.

Attorney General Caldwell stated,”I’m pleased today’s arrangement ends this chapter in the controversy of the transportation and disposal of Ebola waste”