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Can We Get Ill from Being Exposed to Medical Waste?

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Can We Get Ill from Being Exposed to Medical Waste? Medical Waste contains huge amounts of disease-carrying pathogens that may pose a risk to human health when improperly handled and released in the environment.

According to the World Health Organization, improper disposal of medical waste can cause the following illnesses:

1. Parasitic Infections It is already expected that laboratories who regularly check for parasitic infections would most probably have specimens that have certain parasites. Usually, laboratories will collect body fluids to test for parasitic infection. Thereafter, these body fluids will then be disposed of as medical wastes. Unluckily, some of these parasites continue to live and thrive in these liquid wastes and may probably infect once they come in close contact with a new host.
2. Skin infections There is a high tendency to develop a skin infection from improper medical waste disposal. A good example of this would be anthrax. Although rare, anthrax can be a serious threat to a community, once the anthrax-contaminated waste is not handled well.
3. Meningitis Some medical waste may contain pathogens that could cause meningitis. Meningitis, which is the inflammation of the membranes around the spinal cord and brain, may be transmitted via body fluids.
4. Hepatitis B and C and HIV There is a high chance that medical waste contains sharps that are contaminated with HIV, Hepatitis B Virus, and Hepatitis C virus. And when a person accidentally pricks or punctures with this contaminated sharps, that person will most probably be predisposed to contracting the virus. That is why it is very important that sharps should be disposed of in a firm, sealed, and marked container.
5. Lung infections It is usual for medical waste to give off airborne aerosols that could theoretically contain pathogens like Respiratory Syncytial Virus and other viruses which causes pneumonia, influenza, tuberculosis, and other lung infections. Other diseases that may come with improper waste disposal are candida and bacteremia.  

These diseases have the tendency to become life-threatening when contracted. Thus, it is very crucial that these medical wastes should be properly handled to prevent contracting these diseases.