A Simple Method to Select Harmful from Harmless Solid Medical Waste Contaminated with Pathogens

Solid medical waste from patient health care manipulations contaminated with pathogens is frequently considered as hazardous and treated according to legal constrictions (e.g. special packaging and destruction by incineration). In this paper we focus on the impact of this medical waste on employees handling the waste. Using a simple algorithm based on properties of pathogens we describe a flexible method to decide on evidence-based grounds whether the waste is equal to household waste or hazardous medical waste. The method consists in constructing a x,y Coordinate system with on the y-axis the score for an operational definition of pathogenicity and on the x-axis, the diseases according to the WHO definition (class I to IV). The score for pathogenicity is obtained by answering a sequence of questions: survival time outside the host, transmission of the disease linked to the pathogens through body fluids, mode of entry into a potential victim and infectious dose. The final result is a matrix with the x,y-coordinates of the individual pathogens and depending on the choice of two threshold values a rational conclusion on the impact of the waste on waste-handlers is possible. If applied, this method could result in a meaningful reduction of the amount of hazardous waste without jeopardizing the health of waste handlers.