Tag: ebola

ND pode receber resíduos de Ebola da Califórnia.

FARGO, ND – Autoridades de saúde da Califórnia notificaram que Dakota do Norte é um dos seis estados que poderiam receber lixo hospitalar do Ebola caso o estado tenha algum material para incinerar.

Em um aviso publicado na semana passada, o Departamento de Saúde Pública da Califórnia listou North Dakota como um dos seis estados onde a Califórnia envia lixo hospitalar para ser incinerado quando o descarte no local não está disponível em centros médicos.

Healthcare Environmental Services Inc., localizada em um parque industrial em 1420 40th St. N. em Fargo, opera um incinerador de resíduos médicos que também aceita resíduos de outros locais.

As ligações para os Serviços de Saúde Ambiental na tarde de terça-feira não foram retornadas.

A empresa é propriedade da Sanford Health. Uma porta-voz da Sanford disse que não poderia comentar imediatamente sobre a possível incineração de resíduos do ebola da Califórnia na instalação de Fargo.

Até agora, a Califórnia não tem casos conhecidos de ebola, de acordo com o departamento de saúde do estado, que definiu suas diretrizes provisórias para o manuseio seguro de lixo hospitalar em um alerta aos provedores e outros.

Em outro empreendimento, as autoridades de saúde pública estão monitorando dois residentes da Dakota do Norte que retornaram recentemente de países da África Ocidental que estão lutando contra a epidemia de Ebola.

Nenhum dos dois residentes está com febre ou apresentando qualquer sintoma de infecção por ebola, que pode incluir diarreia, dores musculares e nas articulações e sangramento anormal.

“Eles recentemente viajaram para a área”, disse a epidemiologista Michelle Feist, do Departamento de Saúde de Dakota do Norte. “Eles não representam nenhum risco para a comunidade.”

Autoridades de saúde não estão divulgando informações sobre onde as duas pessoas residem.

Autoridades de saúde pública em Minnesota e Dakota do Sul também estão monitorando residentes nos estados que visitaram recentemente a Guiné, Libéria ou Serra Leoa na África Ocidental, onde um surto de ebola matou cerca de 5.000.

As autoridades de saúde estaduais são contatadas pelos Centros de Controle e Prevenção de Doenças quando alguém está entrando nos Estados Unidos vindo desses países por meio de cinco grandes aeroportos internacionais.

“Estamos monitorando”, disse Sam Brungardt, oficial de informações públicas do Departamento de Saúde de Minnesota.

Na segunda-feira, autoridades de saúde de Minnesota anunciaram que estavam monitorando um residente que viajou para a África Ocidental, mas a lista de pessoas a serem monitoradas está crescendo.

“Ele cresceu e continuará crescendo à medida que recebermos relatórios do CDC”, disse Brungardt. “Há pessoas que voltam desses três países da África Ocidental todos os dias.”

Até agora, nenhum dos que estão sendo monitorados para sinais de febre com verificações de temperatura duas vezes ao dia mostra qualquer sinal de infecção, disse ele.

Como precaução, entretanto, eles continuarão a ser verificados durante o período de observação de 21 dias, geralmente considerado o período de incubação do vírus Ebola.

Autoridades de saúde de Dakota do Sul também estão monitorando alguém que voltou recentemente da África Ocidental, mas não apresenta sintomas.

por: http://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/nd-could-receive-ebola-waste-from-calif/article_10e0e242-5f2c-11e4-8ff8-8ba8bab48ce3.html

Resíduos de Ebola do Texas não serão descartados na Louisiana

Na sexta-feira, o procurador-geral Buddy Caldwell anunciou que o estado da Louisiana chegou a um acordo com a incineradora Veolia Environmental Services do Texas e o aterro de resíduos perigosos da Louisiana Chemical Waste Management para garantir que as cinzas do incinerador associadas à recente ocorrência do vírus Ebola de Dallas não sejam transportadas ou descartadas na Louisiana ,.

Em 13 de outubro, o gabinete do procurador-geral da Louisiana obteve uma ordem de restrição no 19º Tribunal do Distrito Judicial para interromper temporariamente o transporte de cinzas de Ebola incineradas para a Louisiana.
A ordem de retreinamento temporário foi prorrogada em 21 de outubro a pedido de todas as partes, antes de chegar ao acordo de hoje.

O procurador-geral Caldwell disse: “Estou satisfeito que o acordo de hoje encerre este capítulo na controvérsia do transporte e descarte de resíduos do Ebola.”

An Unusual Ebola Infrastructure Problem: Waste

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

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

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”

N.D. could get Ebola waste from Calif..

FARGO, N.D. — California health officials have given note that North Dakota is among six countries that may get Ebola medical waste in case the state has any material to incinerate.

In a note published last week, the California Department of Public Health listed North Dakota as one of six states where California pushes medical waste to be incinerated when onsite disposal isn’t available at health facilities.

Healthcare Environmental Services Inc., located at a nearby park in 1420 40th St. N. at Fargo, operates a medical waste incinerator which also accepts waste from other locations.

Calls for Healthcare Environmental Services on Tuesday afternoon Weren’t returned.

The company is owned by Sanford Health. A Sanford spokeswoman said it couldn’t immediately comment on the possible incineration of Ebola waste from California in the Fargo facility.

up to now, California has no known Ebola cases, according to the state health department, which spelled out its own interim guidelines for safe handling of medical waste in an alert to others and providers.

In another development, public health officials have been tracking two North Dakota residents who lately returned from countries in West Africa that are combating the Ebola epidemic.

Neither of the two inhabitants is running a temperature or showing any signs of an Ebola disease, which can include diarrhea, joint and muscle aches and abnormal bleeding.

“They’ve just recently traveled to the area,” said epidemiologist Michelle Feist of the North Dakota Health Department. “They pose no danger to the community.”

Health officials aren’t releasing information about where the two people live.

Public health officials in both Minnesota and South Dakota also are tracking residents in those countries who have recently visited Guinea, Liberia or Sierra Leone in West Africa, in which an epidemic of Ebola has killed about 5,000.

State health officials have been contacted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when a person is entering the United States from those countries through five major international airports.

“We are doing tracking,” explained Sam Brungardt, a public information officer for the Minnesota Health Department.

On Monday, Minnesota health officials declared that they were tracking one resident who’d traveled to West Africa, but the record of individuals to monitor is growing.

“It’s grown, and it’ll continue to grow as we get reports by the CDC,” Brungardt said. “There’s people that are returning from these three West African countries every day.”

up to now, not one of those being monitored for signs of fever with twice-daily temperature checks show any sign of disease, he said.

As a precaution, howeverthey will continue to be checked during the 21-day monitoring period, generally regarded as the incubation period for the Ebola virus.

South Dakota health officials also are tracking somebody who lately returned from West Africa, but isn’t showing symptoms.

by: http://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/n-d-could-receive-ebola-waste-from-calif/article_10e0e242-5f2c-11e4-8ff8-8ba8bab48ce3.html

Ebola: Southport firm leading the fight in International health crisis

“Their engineers usually go out to help with installation but as a result of the Ebola threat, engineers employed by aid organisations and agencies are being sent to be trained up at the plant in Canning Road Industrial Estate rather than

Mr Niklas added:”They contacted us when the outbreak started a few months ago. But we are geared up for these things, anyway. The last time demand was like this was that the Iraq War. We have set up a distinct plant when it does occur we could manage it.”

British Army medics were shipped to Sierra Leone yesterday since global leaders promised to measure the international community’s attempts to stop the spread of the disease that has up to now taken more than 4,000 lives.

Sales and advertising director Paul Niklas said they’d more than a hundred orders from global organisations and aid agencies, including the United Nations and the Red Cross.

He said most of their work force was committed to fabricating the incinerators.

Mr Niklas said:”We are really proud of the fact they have come to us and we have a item that’s part of the solution.

“Because this has to be contained at the source.

“As soon as you begin trying to maneuver waste, it can spread further and farther.

“Our incinerators burn 850 degrees Celsius that burns the toxins, then in the second room they burn the gases from that at 1,200 levels so what is coming from the chimney is clean.

“Along with our incinerators are portable, too, so they can be carried to the source”

Les déchets du Texas Ebola ne seront pas éliminés en Louisiane

Vendredi, le procureur général Buddy Caldwell a annoncé que l’État de Louisiane avait conclu un accord avec l’incinérateur du Texas Veolia Environmental Services et la décharge de déchets dangereux de la Louisiane Chemical Waste Management pour garantir que les cendres de l’incinérateur associées à la récente occurrence du virus Ebola de Dallas ne soient pas transportées ou éliminées en Louisiane ,.

Le 13 octobre, le bureau du procureur général de la Louisiane a obtenu une ordonnance restrictive du 19e tribunal de district judiciaire pour arrêter temporairement le transport de cendres d’Ebola incinérées en Louisiane.
L’ordonnance de recyclage temporaire a été prolongée le 21 octobre à la demande de toutes les parties, avant d’arriver finalement à l’accord d’aujourd’hui.

Le procureur général Caldwell a déclaré: «Je suis heureux que l’accord d’aujourd’hui mette fin à ce chapitre de la controverse sur le transport et l’élimination des déchets d’Ebola.»

ND pourrait recevoir des déchets Ebola de Californie.

FARGO, ND – Les responsables de la santé de la Californie ont signalé que le Dakota du Nord est l’un des six États qui pourraient recevoir des déchets médicaux d’Ebola dans le cas où l’État aurait du matériel à incinérer.

Dans un avis publié la semaine dernière, le ministère de la Santé publique de Californie a classé le Dakota du Nord comme l’un des six États où la Californie envoie des déchets médicaux à incinérer lorsque l’élimination sur place n’est pas disponible dans les centres médicaux.

Healthcare Environmental Services Inc., situé dans un parc industriel au 1420 40th St. N. à Fargo, exploite un incinérateur de déchets médicaux qui accepte également les déchets d’autres endroits.

Les appels aux services environnementaux de la santé mardi après-midi n’ont pas été retournés.

La société appartient à Sanford Health. Une porte-parole de Sanford a déclaré qu’elle ne pouvait pas immédiatement commenter sur l’éventuelle incinération des déchets d’Ebola en provenance de Californie dans l’installation de Fargo.

Jusqu’à présent, la Californie n’a aucun cas connu d’Ebola, selon le département de la santé de l’État, qui a énoncé ses directives provisoires pour une manipulation sûre des déchets médicaux dans une alerte aux prestataires et autres.

Dans un autre développement, les responsables de la santé publique surveillent deux résidents du Dakota du Nord qui sont récemment revenus de pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest qui luttent contre l’épidémie d’Ebola.

Aucun des deux résidents n’a de fièvre ou ne présente aucun symptôme d’infection à Ebola, qui peut inclure de la diarrhée, des douleurs articulaires et musculaires et des saignements anormaux.

«Ils viennent de se rendre dans la région», a déclaré l’épidémiologiste Michelle Feist du Département de la santé du Dakota du Nord. «Ils ne présentent aucun risque pour la communauté.»

Les responsables de la santé ne divulguent pas d’informations sur le lieu de résidence des deux personnes.

Les responsables de la santé publique du Minnesota et du Dakota du Sud surveillent également les résidents des États qui ont récemment visité la Guinée, le Libéria ou la Sierra Leone en Afrique de l’Ouest, où une épidémie d’Ebola a tué environ 5000 personnes.

Les responsables de la santé des États sont contactés par les Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lorsqu’une personne entre aux États-Unis en provenance de ces pays via cinq grands aéroports internationaux.

«Nous effectuons une surveillance», a déclaré Sam Brungardt, un agent d’information publique pour le ministère de la Santé du Minnesota.

Lundi, les responsables de la santé du Minnesota ont annoncé qu’ils surveillaient un résident qui s’était rendu en Afrique de l’Ouest, mais la liste des personnes à surveiller s’allonge.

“Il a grandi, et il continuera de croître à mesure que nous recevrons des rapports du CDC”, a déclaré Brungardt. «Il y a des gens qui reviennent de ces trois pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest chaque jour.»

Jusqu’à présent, aucun de ceux surveillés pour des signes de fièvre avec des contrôles de température deux fois par jour ne montre de signe d’infection, a-t-il déclaré.

Par mesure de précaution, cependant, ils continueront d’être contrôlés pendant la période d’observation de 21 jours, généralement considérée comme la période d’incubation du virus Ebola.

Les responsables de la santé du Dakota du Sud surveillent également une personne qui est récemment revenue d’Afrique de l’Ouest, mais qui ne présente aucun symptôme.

par: http://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/nd-could-receive-ebola-waste-from-calif/article_10e0e242-5f2c-11e4-8ff8-8ba8bab48ce3.html