BACKGROUND Considering the importance of healthcare waste management, following the ratification of the Waste Management law in 2005 and the subsequent approval of its executive bylaw in 2006 and finally the healthcare waste management criteria passing by the parliament in 2008, a review on the status of healthcare waste management is needed to implement the mentioned law properly. FINDINGS I...

BACKGROUND Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have emerged as a growing problem in hospitals; however, domesticated animals, poultry, and wild birds are acting as potential reservoirs. There is a knowledge gap in the Epidemiology of VRE from Bangladesh. METHODS To study the prevalence of VRE and the mechanisms of resistance implicated among wild birds, 238 fecal samples were collected in ...

Background: Pharmaceuticals, like antiepileptic drugs, are found regularly in surface waters, and consequently, advanced waste water treatment technologies are discussed for substance elimination. Because antiepileptic drugs have shown to transform to more toxic substances, their behavior in these treatment processes and resulting effects on ecotoxicity should be investigated. To validate if wa...

Every human activity creates waste (Tciiobanoglous et al., 1993). India is the second most populous nation in the world; the uncontrolled growth of urban areas has led to deficiency in infrastructural services such as: water supply, sewage and municipal solid waste management (MSWM). The burgeoning population has resulted in a massive pressure on the health-care services, leading to huge amount...

This paper presents an experimental study of the heating value of medical waste using an input-output method. The study was carried out at the Oncological Hospital in Bydgoszcz, Poland, over a period of three months. The installation for thermal treatment consisted of a loading unit, a combustion chamber, and a discharge chamber (thermoreactor). The medical waste constituted the primary fuel, a...

BACKGROUND Environmental exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) may lead to elevation of serum lipids, increasing risk of atherosclerosis with thromboembolism, a recognized cause of stroke. We tested the hypothesis that exposure to contaminants from residence near hazardous waste sites in New York State influences the occurrence of stroke. METHODS The rates of stroke hospital discha...

One-third of all hospital-regulated medical waste (RMW) comes from the operating room (OR), and it considerably consists of disposable packaging and wrapping materials for the sterilization of surgical instruments. This study sought to identify the amount and type of waste produced by ORs in order to reduce the RMW so as to achieve environmentally-friendly waste management in the OR. We perform...