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Medical Waste

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2016

William A. Rutala ,
C. Glen Mayhall  and
The Society for Hospital Epidemiology of America
William A. Rutala*
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina and Department of Hospital Epidemiology, University of North Carolina Hospitals, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
C. Glen Mayhall*
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Tennessee Medical Center, Memphis, Tennessee
*
SHEA, 875 Kings Highway, West Deptford, NJ 08096
SHEA, 875 Kings Highway, West Deptford, NJ 08096
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Extract

In the past few years, public concern over the disposal of medical waste has markedly increased. The rising concerns over medical waste disposal were stimulated by reports of such waste washing up on the beaches along the east coast from Maine to Florida, the west coast, the Great Lakes, and the Gulf coast. This resulted in a number of beach closings and a loss in revenues to the tourist industries in these areas. While there also have been rare and isolated instances of public exposure, such as the report in 1987 of children in Indianapolis, Indiana, who were found playing with needles and vials discarded by a doctor's office, the literature shows no instances of public illness caused by such exposures.

Type
SHEA Position Paper
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , January 1992 , pp. 38 - 48
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1992

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