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Hospital Waste Generation During an Outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in Taiwan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2016

Chow F. Chiang ,
Fung C. Sung ,
Fang H. Chang  and
Ching T. Tsai
Chow F. Chiang
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Fung C. Sung
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Fang H. Chang
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
Ching T. Tsai*
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
*
Institute of Environmental Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan40424 ([email protected])
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Abstract

During the SARS outbreak in Taiwan, the number of ambulatory patients and inpatients treated at one medical center decreased by 40%-70% because of the increasing number of SARS patients. A the peak of the epidemic, the amount of hospital infectious waste had increased from a norm of 0.85 kg per patient-day to 2.7 kg per patient-day. However, the hospital was able to return the generation of waste to normal levels within 10 days.

Type
Concise Communications
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 27 , Issue 5 , May 2006 , pp. 519 - 522
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2006

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