Ebola Q&A for Health Care Workers
Participants on the “NETEC Town Hall: Preparing Frontline Healthcare Workers for Ebola” webinar submitted questions to our subject matter experts. Many of the questions were answered during the event, however the remaining questions have been answered by our experts below. While many answers are universal, some responses are based on the practices within a particular institution that supports NETEC. If you have additional questions, please contact our support services group by filling out this form.
Q&As:
Waste Management
We recommend using a lid on a toilet to reduce splash risk and contamination of the surrounding space. It is important to work with your internal partners, in facilities operations and your Infection Prevention department, along with your local public health partners to develop protocols for toilet use in confirmed patients. A risk assessment would include splash and potential aerosolization, maintenance of plumbing fixtures within the care space and “downstream” from the high-consequence patient, any effect on municipal sewer either from the pathogen of concern or the type, frequency, and concentration of any disinfectant used. This study has additional information: Lin, K., & Marr, L. C. (2017). “Aerosolization of Ebola virus surrogates in wastewater systems.” Environmental Science & Technology, 51(5), 2669-2675.