Using Ebola as a Lens to Examine Medical Waste Sterilization

• Author: Nina Shaafi Kabiri,Kevin Thomas,Maureen McMahon,John Broderick,Taha Masri,Justin McCullen,Teija Corse,Joshua Margulies
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.164
• Published date: 01 December 2015
• Date: 01 December 2015

Using Ebola as a Lens to Examine Medical Waste

Sterilization

Teija Corse, Kevin Thomas, John Broderick, Nina Shaaf‌i Kabiri,

Joshua Margulies, Taha Masri, Justin McCullen, and Maureen McMahon

The Ebola outbreak in the Fall of 2014 exposed issues surroundingthe medical waste disposal of

Category A substances. Current regulations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

and the Department of Transportation on the disposal of Category A medical waste state that the

waste must be sterilized before disposal. Approved methods of sterilization are autoclaving and

incineration. For hospitals that do not have on-site autoclaves large enough to sterilize the

immense amount of waste, they must contract with companiesto transport the waste to an off-

site sterilization center. Hospitals are required to follow the UN system of triple-packaging

medical waste for transportation. Hospitals in the United States that treated Ebola patients

during the outbreak faced the issue of having to transport an immense amount of waste to off-

site facilities. A focus on medical waste sterilization has led to the development of new

technologies that can allow hospitals to sterilize their increased amount of medical waste on-site.

These new technologies have the potential to better prepare hospitals for Category A infection

outbreaks, and help limit the risk of both in-hospital exposure and out-of-hospitalexposures that

can occur during waste transportation.

KEY WORDS:Ebola, medical waste, Category A, sterilization, autoclaves

Background

The Fall 2014 Ebola virus outbreak has provided insight into issues

concerning decontamination of medical waste that can be applied to all infectious

diseases for which transmission occurs via contact with contaminated materials.

Ebola virus is classif‌ied as a Category A infectious substance, as exposure to it

can cause life-threatening or fatal disease (World Health Organization [WHO],

2007). In examining the regulated process by which medical facilities had to

handle contaminated medical waste during this Ebola virus outbreak, it is evident

that the lengthy process required to properly dispose of contaminated medical

waste is excessive, and has the potential to be simplif‌ied while still maintaining

proper sterilization protocol.

WorldMedical&HealthPolicy,Vol.7,No.4,2015

402

1948-4682 #2015 Policy Studies Organization

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